Glitter and Decay
by starvingartist83
Summary: Sequel to 'Under and Above' and 'Jareth Begins'.  The King and Queen must face a new enemy as Goblin City crumbles around them.
1. Chapter 1

This story has been banging around in my head since I finished my last FanFic, and as most of you would know the only way to get the damn thing out is to spend hours typing it out, and by then you damn well want someone to read it...

This is a sequel to my previous sequel _Under and Above_, the prequel of which is _Jareth Begins_. It's readable if you haven't read Under and Above but (insert shameless self promotion here) let's face it, reading the previous story is helpful. And let's face it. You're on this website reading this because you really have NOTHING better to do with your time. So you might as well give it a try.

Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth. If I did I could afford a better laptop.

1

The small blonde boy jumped on his bed and giggled.

The boy's aunt leaned against the door frame of the bedroom out of sight. Jay attempted a somersault, oblivious to his audience. He failed, and landed on his rear on the floor and giggled again. His aunt hid her smile and made her presence known.

"Jay. It's time to settle down now." She said quietly. Jay froze, and then regained his composure. He was almost five now and clearly believed he was too old to be told what to do by grownups.

"Or what?"

"Or the goblins will take you away." His aunt tucked him in under his sheets. It was too warm for blankets.

"Or Goblin King!" Jay laughed.

"He's busy tonight."

"I wish the Goblin King would come and get me right now!" Jay said.

A gust of wind slammed the window open and the lights dimmed.

"Well well you little humans never learn do you?" a smug voice echoed in the silence. There was a fluttering of wings in the darkness. Jay was silent and holding his breath. Sarah rolled her eyes and stifled a yawn. Suddenly there was a flash of lightning, a clap of thunder, and a wind-swept glittering man with wild hair appeared by the window. "WHO DARES SUMMON ME?"

Jay giggled with delight.

"Uncle Jareth!" The lights came back on. Sarah smiled and shook her head at the sight of the giggling four-year-old being whirled around in her husband's arms. So much for calming him down.

Jay's father appeared behind Aunt Sarah at the door.

"No rest for the wicked I see." He said. Sarah smiled as Jareth gently lowered the little boy into his bed.

"Now. I've been told I'm not allowed to enchant you after the last time, but there's nothing stopping me from sending you in a tent to the bog of eternal stench for the night." Jay's laughter died. He knew the Goblin King would do it, at least until his daddy or Aunty Sarah could talk some sense into him. He continued. "Now, if you like your bed, and your fairly fresh air (yes, Little Jareth I can smell that and I know it was you), you will settle down and at least pretend to go to sleep so the grownups can have some peace and quiet. Now. Goodnight."He gave a bow and vanished again. Sarah's smile faded and stood back while Caleb saw to Jay. She hoped he would sleep now. The whole Aunty thing was getting old today. Caleb smiled at her.

"Now, before we were interrupted I believe I was about to offer you a drink?" he asked.

"It sounds good to me." She sighed.

After meeting _coincidently_ (as if she believed it had been coincidence) during Jareth's ill-fated escape attempt from the Underground, Jareth's brother Caleb and his energetic offspring had visited twice now, thanks to a crystal Sarah had impulsively left Above. Jareth thought he was doing the right thing inviting them down for the weekend so she could have some human company while he would be busy attending to Goblin business. In reality, having them here made her miss him even more. Both Caleb and Jay had Jareth's mismatched eyes. Jay had his blonde hair and fiery personality. Caleb was quieter. He had a slightly bigger frame, a fuller face, and dark hair flecked with grey drawn into a short ponytail. The differences only heightened the similarities to Sarah. She tried to tell herself to get over it and that she was certainly not the only wife in either world with a husband who worked long hours.

Caleb was searching in his sports bag left on the sofa.

"I know I packed it...ah hah!" he emerged victorious with a bottle of Grey Goose. Sarah smiled again. He had no idea of the in-joke she and Jareth had with the drink but he knew it was her favourite and always brought a bottle when he and Jay visited. He looked around. "Glasses and ice...damn." Sarah held out her hands to the low coffee table in front of the sofa and picked up two glasses filled with ice that had not previously been there. She then took the bottle from it and held it in her hands until it had frosted over, poured their drinks, and as an afterthought conjured up three coasters. One for the bottle, two for the glasses. Caleb blinked.

"You really do need to teach me how to do that one day." Sarah laughed.

"I don't think your brother would like that. He gets a kick out of being the magical one." She handed him the glass and sat down beside him on the sofa and the two of them started their regular gossip sessions of what was happening in their separate worlds.

Although Jareth had been initially suspicious of his long lost brother, and Caleb was still convinced Jareth was smoking some hard drugs, the two of them complemented each other nicely. Jareth was all about the theatrics, the intensity and the magic of life. Caleb was calm and thoughtful. Sarah loved her eccentric husband with all her heart but appreciated Caleb's friendship and the small taste of 'normal' he happily gave her. As well as the Grey Goose he'd brought with him, he also had an iPod for Jareth containing digital copies of all his favourite Aboveground music ("Don't be ridiculous", Jareth had said; "This will never replace vinyl!") and several issues of Interior Design Quarterly for Sarah, who had made it her quest to try and drag the crumbly old castle into the 21st century by using indoor plants and muted neutrals, so far with limited success (although she had effectively banned all livestock from the throne room).

Several drinks and discussion about everything from _the Matrix_ to George W. Bush somehow getting into office and Sarah was quite relaxed, head resting against the back of the sofa. She looked at the clock above the fireplace. Quarter-past thirteen. She sighed, and then noticed Caleb staring at her.

"What is it?" she asked. Caleb shook his head.

"You're different now, you know? You glitter like my brother does." Sarah laughed again. No more Grey Goose for you, her inner voice chided.

"He is a bad influence on most people."

"True. Jay threatened to put me in an oubliette this morning. What is that anyway?" Caleb asked.

"It's a place to put people to forget about them." Jareth said from behind them. "Such as strange men who are overly familiar with one's glittery wife." Sarah vaulted clumsily over the back of the sofa into Jareth's arms.

"I think as far as 'strange men' go you win the prize for that one." Caleb remarked. Sarah hid her smile against Jareth's neck. Yes, he was a little on the strange side. Although he tended to limit his eye makeup to formal occasions these days and had thankfully given up on the high-heeled boots his look still ranged between modelling for GQ and starring in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Today he wore a very respectable looking pair of well-fitted grey suit pants with matching waistcoat. Respectable but for the billowy red shirt, Goblin King medallion and mad hair anyway. The king's personal stylist, known only as _Me!_, certainly had a lot to answer for.

Fortunately Caleb was a very switched-on sort of guy.

"Well, thanks for the hospitality but I think I'll go to bed. From what the Jay was saying I have a busy day tomorrow."

"Master Jay wants to try his skateboard out in the Chamber of Stairs." Jareth said helpfully.

"Great." Sarah said, glancing at the skateboard in the corner. There had already been an incident earlier in the afternoon when a small group of goblins got their hands on it.

"Goodnight!" Caleb called as the two of them vanished from his room. He stayed in one of the more presentable guest suites nearby, one that Sarah had tried her hand at decorating with passable success.

After materialising in their chamber Sarah turned to her husband and saw he had brought the half-empty bottle of vodka and was downing a glass for himself.

"How bad was the meeting?" she asked him. His flat gaze (and second glass) said it all.

"Most of the crops in the north are in danger of failing. And the demand for gold and gems from Above has dropped, so we'll be lucky to be able to import enough food to keep everyone going for the year. The city is falling apart literally the list of repairs needed keeps on growing...shall I continue?"

"Oh." She wasn't sure what else to say. He set his glass down on their dining table (right _beside_ a coaster) and walked over to the balcony. Sarah followed.

"The goblins expect me to fix it, Sarah." He said. Sarah wrapped an arm around his waist.

"Take it easy on yourself. Even you can't make it rain." Jareth gave her an amused look.

"You're very agreeable tonight. What happened to my screaming banshee of a wife I left here this morning? Bla bla spend more time with your brother bla bla something about the toilet seat...I forget the rest." Sarah ignored his baiting.

"I miss you." She said after a while. He held her close as they gazed out onto the parched landscape. And at the ruined Labyrinth. Neither of them spoke of it, each knowing the other was fully aware, but despite the cracks and damage the Labyrinth had grown. When Sarah had returned Underground it had been merely an annex to the city, joined on the south-west side. Now the entire city was surrounded. And none of the other creatures (goblins, dwarves or...miscellaneous) had seemed to notice there was a difference.

"Whaddya talkin' about? It's always been like that." Had been Hoggle's response when Sarah asked him about it a few days previously.

Sarah shivered. She knew that whatever was causing the growth or the dry, crumbling decay was not a good thing.

But for now, for the first time this week, Jareth had returned to their chamber while she was still awake. This opportunity was not to be wasted. She turned and kissed him and gave his bottom lip a little graze with her teeth, just enough to get him interested.

"Mmm oh really?" he murmured. She broke away from him and walked slowly back inside removing her top and bra as she went. She paused just inside letting the lamp light show off a hint of her curves and looked back at him over her shoulder.

Jareth was also a very switched-on sort of a guy. He didn't need any more hints than that.

A long time later after both of them were satisfied Sarah lay snuggled up to the Goblin King with her head pillowed on his chest. Just as her eyes were closing she felt him kiss the top of her head and whisper;

"I've missed you too."


	2. Chapter 2

2

Jareth woke early in the morning. He would have liked a bath but it was a choice between a bath and breakfast this morning, and his empty stomach won the debate. He glanced down at Sarah. She was naked, tangled in sheets and her long hair was everywhere.

She was absolutely beautiful. He mentally promised himself he would be home early tonight so they could share a meal together, a bath, and he could take his time ravishing her.

He teleported into his lounge and summoned his clothes from the impressive walk-in wardrobe he'd had installed last year. He was feeling 'old skool' today, and so pulled on a pair of tight grey pants, white shirt, favourite leather jacket and his old boots. He shook his head (hair falling magically into place) and wandered down to the kitchens for an early breakfast. The goblins wouldn't be awake yet but the cooks knew to leave something out for him the night before these days. Despite Sarah taking on many of his duties his days were busier than ever. Sundays were even down to a half-day off in the afternoon.

Jareth entered the kitchen and was surprised to find it already occupied by his brother. Caleb looked up from the pan he was cooking with and smiled.

"Morning." He greeted Jareth. Jareth frowned.

"Good morning. Why are you up this early?" he asked. His brother was already fully dressed in jeans, sneakers and an over-sized black jersey with big white numbers on the back.

"Jay will be up in half an hour or so. I figured pancakes might be in order. I was going to bring some up to you and Sarah later." He gestured to the impressive stack beside the stove he had already cooked. "Want some?" They did smell good.

"Thankyou." Jareth said and sat down. Caleb slid five onto a plate and smothered them in some kind of syrup from a plastic bottle he must have brought with him.

One year on and having a big brother was still taking some getting used to. Jareth began to eat.

"I trust your room was satisfactory?"

"Yes it's great. It's very...beige." Caleb replied. Jareth smiled.

"It certainly is." Caleb grinned and flipped his pancake over, tipped it onto the plate, and started another one. Jareth watched, fascinated. He wondered where people learned to do this sort of thing. "How long will you be staying this time?"

"School goes back on Monday so just for the weekend this time." Caleb poured some more batter into the pan. "It's a pity you guys can't come back to our world. I'm taking Jay camping next month." Camping. Jareth frowned and decided to pretend he knew what that meant.

"Yes. It's a pity." Jareth finished off what was on his plate and left it on the kitchen bench.

"Will we be seeing you today? Where are you off to this morning?" asked Caleb.

"I'm meeting my Mage in the library to see if we can't find something to help with summoning rain."

"Try having a barbeque. That works in my world." Caleb quipped. Jareth narrowed his eyes. "Sorry. I have nothing useful to contribute to this conversation." He went back to making his pancakes. Jareth paused on his way out of the room.

"I am glad you're here Caleb. You and Jay are always welcome." There. That was as close to sentimental as he was capable of getting with this man for now. Caleb seemed pleasant enough over the two previous times he had been Underground, but all Jareth could really remember was the smug favourite older brother who made fun of his Green Goblin.

Caleb met his eyes.

"It will get easier Jareth. You and I just don't know each other all that well yet." _And yet you and Sarah talk like you're old friends already_, Jareth thought. He wasn't sure who he was jealous of, Caleb for the time he spent with Sarah, or Sarah for the friendship she'd found with his brother. He nodded once and headed towards the stairs leading out of the kitchen.

And then there was a deafening blast, as though all of Underground had exploded.

Jareth slowly opened his eyes and flinched at the pounding in his head and the high pitched hum in his ears. He was slumped on the cold stone floor of the kitchen. He could smell smoke and hear voices. They weren't human voices but they weren't goblin voices either. He slowly and carefully opened one eye. Caleb lay beside him, hair, face and clothes filthy with soot and ash. His eyes were shut and there were no signs of life.

"The princess is not going to be happy if he's dead." One voice said.

"It's not my fault! How was I supposed to know the stove would explode? Your idiot brother cast the spell." Jareth slowly and painfully looked around until he saw two grotesque beings. He felt his anger rise. They were of the Southern Empire. Abominations who he tolerated in his presence only as far as diplomacy required. And their princess...oh dear. They were tall as humans but their features were distorted and exaggerated as though they were wearing masks. Beak-noses, long fingers with claws and pointed ears.

"Check him." The first one commanded.

"Well which one is he? They all look alike, filthy humans."

"He's the one who's dressed normal you moron, with the nice jacket. I don't know who this other one is. Outlandish creature."

Jareth heard one of the creatures approach him. It gave him a kick, and then a moment later gave him a much, much a harder one. Jareth couldn't help but cry out at the pain that exploded in his chest.

"He's alright. What about the other one?"

"Who cares? The princess only wants him."

"What about the Goblin Queen?" Jareth froze.

"The Emperor is coming for her. She's not our problem. Come on, let's see where my idiot brother got to. Probably miscalculated and ended up in a toilet somewhere..."

"What about him?" Jareth felt a booted foot prod him in the back.

"He had a knock on the head and I just broke some of his ribs. He's not going anywhere."

"All right all right." They continued their arguing as they left Caleb opened his eyes and sat up. Jareth growled. He had to help Sarah.

"Jareth! Jareth what do I do? Who was that?" Caleb asked.

"From...the south. Empire. Must be invading. Tell Sarah." Jareth said as clearly as he could.

"Who's the princess? Where are they taking you?"

"It doesn't matter!" Jareth snapped. "Get Sarah and Jay safe."

"How the hell do I do that? I don't know this place. I have no magic. I'm a bloody high school science teacher!" Caleb hissed. Jareth slumped back and shut his eyes, unable to talk anymore. He had to trust that his clueless, decidedly average brother would save the day. Suddenly Jareth bit back a cry when Caleb moved him.

"What the hell are you doing?" he demanded as Caleb took his insignia from around his neck and clumsily dragged off his leather jacket.

"The only thing I can think of doing. Put this on." he threw his jersey at Jareth. Jareth stared at him.

"You don't know what you're getting into..." Jareth warned him as Caleb pushed the jersey down over his head and rubbed ash into his blonde hair.

"Shut up and play dead. You owe me one. They're coming." He was right. Jareth managed to push one arm into a sleeve and slumped back down again.

"They're in here. Help me with him." Caleb faked a groan and muttered something about sending them all to the Bog of Eternal Stench while Jareth lay still in the hockey jersey beside him. _I don't sound like that!_ Jareth thought to himself.

"Yeah whatever. You'll wish for the bog once Her Highness is through with you." One of them spat on Caleb, another hauled him up off the ground. He let loose several expletives.

"Shut up. You sure you got enough of that powder to get us all home?"

"Sure." The third voice said. "It would have worked fine before if your pre-mission booze hadn't messed with the chemistry of it all." Caleb was being held up by two of them now. The third was sprinkling them all with a fine powder with an acrid smell that caught in Jareth's throat from the ground. They were using sorcery. A primitive substitution for magic that the Southerners used. Caleb coughed and groaned again. One of their attackers lit a match, and the powder ignited. Caleb let out a real scream as the air around them all burned, and they vanished.

Jareth lay still on the ground, unable to believe their ruse had worked that well, and then overcome with shame_. Goddamned useless coward!_ He scolded himself. He tried to tell himself there was no other way. In truth there probably wasn't. He had to stop whatever was happening here, but at what cost to his brother? He knew what the princess wanted with him. It was not going to be pleasant.

The pain in his chest and back brought him back to reality. He sent a crystal to Jay and others he knew could protect him. He then sent one to Sarah, hoping he wasn't too late. He lay back on the cold stone and shut his eyes. He knew he would heal if he allowed himself to pass out, but he didn't have time for an extended nap. With his remaining energy he sent a crystal to summon the goblin he trusted above all others to the kitchen to wake him as soon as possible.

Then the world went black.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3. This one's a bit shorter and I apologise, this one's a bit harder to write than the last one!

Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth. Although I would love my own Ludo

3

Sarah lay in bed drifting in and out of sleep when she felt magic in the room. Her eyes snapped open and a crystal floated in through her window. She smiled. Jareth often sent her these during the day, sometimes containing some sort of lurid message. She held out her hand and it came to her. There was no image, just a strained sounding voice.

"Sarah. There's trouble. Caleb's gone..." there was heavy breathing. Sarah's stomach clenched. "Jay's safe. Someone's coming for you. I don't know why...get out. Hide." The crystal popped like a bubble. Sarah's heart raced.

"Jareth?" she whispered. _Someone's coming for you_, he'd said. Oh dear. She produced a crystal of her own. "Jareth hold on. I'm coming to you now..._shit_. They're here!" she released it hurriedly as she heard a noise outside of her door. The door burst open. There were grotesque creatures. Six of them, all carrying weapons. She recognised them, or at least what race they were. They were some sort of evolved goblin who had built an empire to the South of them. They didn't reveal the name of their species, if they had one. She had first seen them years ago at the Goblin King's ball, and now she spent much of her time negotiating with their ambassadors. She pulled her sheet up and covered herself.

"What is the meaning of this?" She demanded with as much dignity as she could summon with un-brushed teeth and wild hair. They said nothing, but stood three on each side of the door and bowed. _Oh shit_, she thought as a richly-dressed creature wearing an elaborate golden mask walked into the room. She had never met him but knew who he must be.

"Goblin Queen." He sneered as he looked her up and down. She stared into the eye holes of his mask.

"Emperor." She greeted him coldly. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I'm invading." He said. "Get dressed. You're coming with me. Oh and don't try to vanish on me. I have your King. If you disappear on me my sister will kill him." Sarah shut her eyes. _So that's where he is._

"Where is he?"

"My city. He won't be fatally harmed if you cooperate. Now get dressed."

"Some privacy would be appreciated." She snapped. The emperor turned his back on her. The guards did not. Hiding her discomfort Sarah climbed out of the four-poster bed and walked over to the wardrobe, choosing a pair of old jeans, underwear, one of Jareth's shirts and a pair of sneakers. Once dressed she approached the Emperor from behind. The guards tensed.

"I will not forget this." She hissed. He turned around and looked at her through his mask.

"Come, Goblin Queen. Or rather today it's the Champion of the Labyrinth I need."


	4. Chapter 4

4

Jay sat on the ground and looked around not sure of what had just happened. A moment ago he had been sitting on the floor of his awesome fairy-tale bedroom in the castle in Goblin City putting his shoe on. Now he was sitting on the dusty ground near a huge stone wall still holding his other shoe. After pulling on his shoe (slip-on, so he didn't have to do laces. He wasn't good at laces yet) he stood up and looked around. The sun was only just rising in the distance behind him hidden behind a tangle of ugly trees.

"Hello?" he called, hoping there were some goblins around. He liked the goblins. They were a lot of fun to play with and they liked to ride his skateboard as much as he did... Jay pouted. His skateboard hadn't made the trip with him. "Is anyone here?"

"Who's that?" a gruff, angry voice demanded. "You'd better have a good explanation for this or I'll..." A creature just a little bit taller than Jay appeared from behind a tree. Jay blinked. He knew this dwarf.

"Hoggle?" he said. "What are you doing here?" Hoggle blinked.

"Young Master Jay?" Jay nodded. Aunt Sarah had taken him to Hoggle's house the last time he and Daddy visited so he could play with the dwarf kids, Hoggle Junior, Sarah and baby Higget. He liked the dwarf Sarah. Hoggle Junior was grumpy and hit a lot. "What are you doing here?"

"I would say that's perfectly obvious." Said a chirpy voice. There, spear in hand, sat what looked like some sort of small yappy dog creature seated on a big shaggy dog. Jay shook his head. This place was weird. "Young Master Jay here has been sent on some sort of a quest, and we must escort him and keep him safe."

"Oh no not you! Didymus..." Hoggle groaned.

"_Sir_ Didymus." The little dog corrected him. Hoggle swore words Jay wasn't allowed to repeat.

"What's a quest?" Jay asked.

"A quest? Why it's some sort of noble undertaking of course! Did not the King or Queen give you instructions?" Jay shook his head.

"No. I just woke up and I was here."

"Curious." Didymus said, stroking his moustache.

"Didymus you idiot. The King and Sarah wouldn't have sent him on some quest all alone. Where's the boy's father? Something's wrong. I think we should take him and find somewhere to hide. There's a Dwarf settlement not far from here..."

"Silence coward!" Didymus shrieked. "He has been sent here just outside of the Labyrinth for a reason! He must have been sent here to try his luck at becoming a Champion!" Jay blinked. Champion? That sounded fun. Hoggle slapped himself on the forehead.

"How am I going to explain all this to me missus?"

"Let the boy decide. Do you, Noble Sir Jay, Jareth the Younger, wish to gain fame, fortune and glory in the Labyrinth or hide like a snivelling coward in a hole?"

"You mean does he want to rot in an oubliette and drown in the Bog of Eternal Stench, or be nice and warm and safe until his Pa comes and gets him?" Jay thought about it for a while. He would have liked his Daddy to be here, but if he got through the Labyrinth back to Goblin City he'd see him soon enough.

"We'll go through the Labyrinth." He decided. Sir Didymus blew a victory 'toot' into a little trumpet. Hoggle groaned and shook his head.

Aunt Sarah had told him the story of how she had run the Labyrinth when she was a girl. It didn't sound that hard.


	5. Chapter 5

Hello and thanks for reading everyone. My updates are probably going to slow down a bit. I apologise but the real world does get in the way of online creative projects sometimes!

Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth. I do however have a son named Jareth. I kinda do wish the goblins would take him away, but only for an hour or two at a time I swear!

5

Sarah followed the Emperor down corridors of the castle followed by the six armed guards. Escape seemed unlikely. Her stomach knotted and unknotted as she tried not to imagine what was happening to the people she cared about. Caleb...her eyes watered. _Caleb's gone_, Jareth had said. She tried to tell herself he'd simply vanished and that 'gone' wasn't necessarily 'dead'. Poor little Jay... she vowed to find him and to work out the mess they were in. Somehow.

The Emperor paused up ahead and shook his finger.

"Ah silly me. I forgot something." He opened up a small bag hanging from one shoulder and pulled something small and black out of it. "A gift for your Highness. Please put these on." He turned and handed her something small and soft that made her skin crawl when she touched it.

"What is it?" she asked as she unravelled it.

"Just a little something to keep you under control. It won't hurt." He said. It was a pair of gloves. They were thin and almost gauzy, made from some sort of dull, black fibre. Sarah reluctantly put them on her hands. They felt cold. And just plain awful. She started to wonder what they were for, and then the answer came to her. She tried to spin a crystal. Nothing happened. "Ah good. You understand perfectly now don't you? Come on, let us continue." Sarah tried to keep her expression neutral. Her magic was not gone, but these gloves kept it subdued. She tried to take them off as no one seemed to be watching her movements as they walked down endless corridors and stairs but she found that either glove would simply not grab onto the other. _Very clever_, she thought bitterly.

"Just where the hell are we going anyway?" she said.

"We have some exploring to do Your Highness." The emperor answered.

"What for? What do you want? You're in a city inhabited by goblins. They value food, chickens and things that explode. There's no stash of treasure here, nothing of value."

"You really believe that, don't you?" the Emperor said. "Tell me, Queen Sarah, did you ever wonder why this city is here?"

"Goblins have to live somewhere don't they?" she said.

"Yes they do. But tell me, even though this place is crumbling as we speak, what is your impression of this place?" Sarah's curiosity was reluctantly piqued.

"It was beautiful once. And can be again."

"Do you think the Goblins capable of creating such a place?" he asked. Sarah paused. She'd never thought about it. Some of the goblins she'd met such as her magic instructor, Steve in Accounts and Jeeves the butler were intelligent in their own way, but she'd never met a Goblin engineer, or scientist, or architect. Most seemed to prefer spending their time fighting, laughing, eating, having fun and creating more little goblins. She kept her mouth shut. The Emperor continued.

"This place was built thousands of years ago my Queen. By a race who ruled over the entire Underground and who died out long ago. There is magic and value here beyond anything you've ever dreamed of."

"Such as?"

"The power of Gods, Queen Sarah. The power to give life, and to take it away."

"And you're telling me this why?" Sarah asked.

"Because you asked. Because you're not going anywhere anytime soon, and by the time I let you go (assuming you behave) there's nothing you'll be able to do to stop what we put in motion today. The Empire will be in control of this city, the Labyrinth and its magic."

"Why do you need me then?" she asked.

"Because this city's magic can only be controlled by someone who has earned the right to govern." He seemed to be waiting for a response from her.

"By someone who has run the Labyrinth." Sarah guessed out loud.

"Very good. You're far more intelligent than the King aren't you?" he said. "Imagine. Ever since you ran the Labyrinth you have been the single most powerful being Underground. And you never even knew it. We had planned to attack as soon as we found there was a new Champion, but you had gone and left Underground hadn't you?" Sarah shook her head. Now she was back... "Now you're back our plans can resume."

"And your plans are?"

"The Empire is wealthy and powerful. I simply wish to make it more so. And to either subdue or eliminate our more annoying neighbours. Dwarves are amiable enough. They keep us supplied in minerals and keep to themselves. The random assortment found around your Kingdom is an abomination. It is chaos. I don't know how you put up with them. You seem a fairly sensible person discounting your taste in your chosen mate. As for the Goblins..." The emperor seemed to visibly shudder.

"What's wrong with the Goblins? They mean well."

"They are stupid, unevolved, dirty fools incapable of creating anything. They can't even rule themselves. Instead they import some human upstart to take care of them." Sarah couldn't see his face beneath the mask, but she had a hunch she was confident of.

"They remind you of yourselves, don't they? You were like them once. You changed. You grew and became a great Empire, but deep down you know you started off like them and you can't stand the thought of it."

"Silence!" The Emperor snapped.

"They may be slow and...uncultured for the most part. But they are brave, and loyal, and I'd rather spend an afternoon watching them play _Pass the Poultry_ in my throne room than spend half an hour with your leering ambassador."

"There will be no more Pass the Poultry," he spat the words. "...from now on. My sister the Princess and I have an understanding. She aides my efforts in this endeavour. I give her that puffed-up fool Jareth."

"That 'puffed up fool' is my husband." Sarah growled. "What's her problem with him anyway?"

"If she leaves him alive you may get to ask him one day. Ah. Here we are." They stood outside a doorway that looked similar to the library, except here in this place there were no windows. From the musty smell in the air Sarah guessed they were under the castle near the dungeons. Sarah had never been here before. The wooden plaque above it said 'Map Room'.

"How did I not know this was here?" she asked.

"How long have you been here? You still don't know how this place works do you?" The Emperor snapped. "What right do you think you and that fool Jareth ever had to rule this place? You don't even understand it!" Sarah glared, feeling a bit foolish. "The castle only reveals rooms you already know to look for." The Emperor stood back and allowed a guard to open the door for him. He gestured to Sarah to enter. "After you, Your Majesty." Sarah entered the pitch black room, confident that as ignorant as she now knew she was about this place, the castle would not hurt her.


	6. Chapter 6

Lovesjareth, this one is for you

6

"My boy! My boy! My little boy!" a creaky voice was wailing. "What did theys do to you?" Jareth opened his eyes and found himself still in the kitchen on the floor. His Goblin mother was hovering over him wringing her hands. "My little Goblin King is you alright? What is you wearing? What did theys _do_ to you?" Jareth sat up slowly. He was stiff and sore but he could tell his ribs had mended. His ears and head felt more or less normal too.

"The Southern Emperor's henchmen came for me. They took my brother." He said.

"Queeney's gone too. Bad Emperor came and took her away. Saw them walking they was still in the castle going downstairs." She put her arms around him and hugged him. He let her stand crooning over him while he absorbed it all.

"Downstairs? Why? There's nothing but cellars and dungeons down there." He said, more to himself than to Mummy. She had taken him into her home along with her own children when he'd been a child. She'd fed him, bathed him, clothed him and raised him as best she could. But she was not a great thinker, and would be no further help here. "Thank you for waking me, but you should go. Go to our old home and wait there with your children. The castle isn't safe now." Her lower lip trembled.

"You _is_ my children!"

"I know that Mummy but I need you to go out to the city and raise the alarm. Find Ludo, tell him what's happened, and have him get the soldiers ready for a fight. The Emperor wouldn't have come alone." Mummy sniffed.

"Okays then. Be careful." She gave him one last soggy hug and walked away.

Jareth sat for a while trying to decide what to do. Sarah needed rescuing. Caleb needed rescuing. There was probably an army on the way from the South so basically the whole city needed rescuing. Jay...he at least shouldn't need rescuing. Hoggle would have taken him to a Dwarf settlement by now and they had the idiotic but fierce Didymus for protection.

He summoned some clean clothes from his wardrobe while he tried to decide. All black this time. Black pants. Black boots. Black shirt and gloves. And for the first time in a long time his black face paint (he refused to think of it as makeup). It matched his mood today. He shook the ash out of his hair and it magically fell into place again. He decided.

Caleb had been reckless, but he had been right in doing what he did. Jareth was of no use to anyone outside of the city for now. He had to deal with the threat here, save his queen, and fight off the invaders. Caleb would have to try and talk his way out of his ordeal.

He was right about one thing though. Jareth would most definitely owe him one later. He hoped the Princess would figure out Caleb wasn't him sooner rather than later. He also hoped she wasn't angry enough to take out about ten years worth of frustration on the poor, clueless human from Above.

First thing was first. He had to make sure he would have no more uninvited guests, and that the ones who were here could not leave. He did not need the Emperor disappearing with Sarah, or ten thousand soldiers appearing in his throne room. Jareth teleported himself to the tallest in-tact tower in the castle, and was not surprised to find his Goblin Mage there waiting for him. The ancient, wrinkled little creature was standing on the carved stone barrier on the edge of the balcony. They were facing South. An army had gathered on the edge of the Labyrinth.

"King. Bad soldiers come." Said the Mage, bowing as best he could.

"I know. They have the Queen. They're heading down under the castle." Jareth waited for an explanation. The old Goblin thought about it for a while.

"There's be magic down there." He said. "Magic I don't know. Magic too strong for Goblins."

"What sort of magic?" Jareth asked. He'd never felt anything coming from below the castle. The mage turned and faced him.

"Old magic. I teach you everything I know, Goblin King, but this magic older than me, older than Goblins."

"Why do you think they took Sarah then?" Jareth asked. "She is new to magic. I'm far more powerful than she is."

"You know Goblin magic. You are very powerful with Goblin magic. Queeney has other magic too. From Labyrinth." Jareth narrowed his eyes.

"And you never thought to tell me this?"

"Never asked me. Need to ask the right questions King Jareth." Jareth sighed. He was starting to feel like an inattentive student all over again.

"All right. Mage. I need to stop anyone using Sorcery to get in or out of this city. How do I do it?"

"You can't. _We_ can."

"Excellent. How can we?" The Mage explained the process. Jareth frowned.

"It sounds difficult. How long can you hold it for?"

"As long as I can." The Mage said simply. "I wouldn't take too long saving the city if I was you." Jareth nodded and helped his small teacher down to the stone floor. He knelt before him and spun a single crystal in his hand, pouring as much power as he could into it without leaving himself drained. He still had to find Sarah and battle this strange new magic. He held the crystal and watched it shine clear and bright with his Goblin magic, and once Jareth knew he had to stop, he passed it to his teacher.

The mage took the crystal in his hands and grimaced at the weight. He placed it on the stone floor. It didn't roll. It sat as if cemented into place. And then it grew. The perfect sphere enveloped the Mage, Jareth, the tower and eventually Goblin City. The reflective wall shimmered in morning light. The core of the crystal, a small globe of pure light, sat on the ground in front of the Mage, who slowly sank to the ground.

"Is it enough?" Jareth asked. The huge bubble distorted the air a little around the city but no one but a trained magician or sorcerer would recognise the difference.

"It is what it is. Go save Queeney. Quickly." The mage replied. "If the Emperor controls Queeney she about to be very dangerous to Goblins." Jareth nodded and took his owl form. He flew off the edge of the balcony and spiralled down towards the main gates of Goblin City, where Ludo was already gathering a small army of Goblins.

Jareth flew over their heads in a sweeping arc to get their attention. The Goblins' morale was important. They weren't the bravest of creatures. Or the smartest. Or the cleanest. But they were loyal to their King and Queen and their emotions would decide how they performed in battle.

"The King!" Someone shouted and pointed up at him. He'd had to swoop several times by this point to get their attention. The goblin jumped up and down excitedly waving around his breakfast sausage. Jareth swooped one more time and grabbed it out of his hand, eliciting a squawk of protest from the little creature. Chants of "Long live the King!" started up, mixed with cackling laughter of the crowd as the little Goblin chased the snowy owl, trying to grab his breakfast back. Jareth flew to the front of the crowd beside Ludo and changed back into his human form with a theatrical puff of smoke, to the cheers of the gathered Goblins. With a flourish he tossed the Goblin back his breakfast. He caught it and cackled loudly. There was applause from the crowd. Jareth scanned the army before him critically. There were a few thousand Goblins there. All were armed and armoured. A few rode in giant mechanical suits (of dubious working order), some manned clunky machine gun stations of Jareth's own design. There were canons and catapults, crossbowmen (crossbowgoblins?) as well as infantry and a platoon of goblins mounted on boars.

Jareth hoped it would be enough. The Southerners were organised. They had a well-trained army with well-made weapons and far more efficient technology than what the Goblins had. This coupled by the fact their soldiers were man-height made Jareth very nervous.

But he couldn't show it.

He grinned a broad grin and allowed their applause to continue for a while, then violently gestured for them to cease. And they did. Immediately.

"Enough! You all know why you're here!" he shouted. Some of them probably did. The others would have gotten nothing but rumour and exaggeration. Sure enough...

"They killed the Queen!"

"They took our chickenses!" another shouted, apparently not noticing the bird pecking the ground at Jareth's feet.

"They _took_ the _Queen_. The chickens are fine." Jareth said with his eyes shut. He felt a headache coming on. "There is an army to the South who wish to take our city. To take our Labyrinth. Are we going to let them?" Jareth bellowed. A few shouted 'No!'. Some looked confused. One stepped forward.

"What was the question again?" Jareth rolled his eyes and flicked his fingers. The Goblin was lifted off the ground and tossed to the back of the crowd, to the delight of the rest of the hooting, laughing army.

"Defend your home. Should any of the Southern army find their way through our Labyrinth you know what to do with them!"

"Kill!"

"Burn!"

"Eat!" there was an awkward silence after that one. Jareth shrugged. If that's what they wanted...

"Man your posts and defend the city!" he shouted. The goblins cheered and scattered off to wherever they were meant to be.

It was all just a pretty speech for now. The Southerners still had to get through the Labyrinth before any actual fighting could take place. He turned to Ludo beside him.

"I need you to organise this lot. Get them ready to fight and keep them focused." Ludo frowned.

"Where Sawah" he asked.

"Somewhere inside the castle. No Ludo!" he forced the great hairy creature to freeze in mid-step. "Ludo I need you here!"

"Ludo help Sawah!" he howled. Jareth held up a finger.

"I know you want to help. But who knows this castle better, you or I?"

"Um, King Jawef."

"Correct. What can you do to against the Sorcerer who has her?"

"Um...hit hard. Squash!" He pounded one open hand with a huge, hairy fist.

"That won't work and you know it. Ludo I want to save her as much as you do. You know that, don't you?" Jareth asked. Ludo met his gaze, flat and hostile. The big oaf had never trusted Jareth. "I swear I'll bring her back." Ludo stared at him for a while longer and nodded once. Jareth released him from the invisible hold.

"Ogay. But..." Ludo gestured to the chaos surrounding them as Goblins ran here and there. "Ludo tell them 'get ready, fight', but Ludo not know how..." He frowned, frustrated at his own slow speech. "Ludo not know what _else_ to say." He finished. Jareth nodded. Of course. Ludo was no battle commander.

He wasn't even sure if he was himself.

"If the battle starts before I get back blow a horn three times. I'll come straight away and you can look for Sarah. Agreed?"

"Ogay." Ludo looked relieved. He stood up straighter and stormed off, shouting orders at the troops.

Jareth took one last look at the scene surrounding him and changed back into his owl body. He flew over the battlements and made for the Chamber of Stairs. He had to find Sarah in time. Ludo would be no match for the Emperor if he failed.


	7. Chapter 7

7

Caleb wished he had passed out for the journey but he hadn't been that lucky. First he had burned. All over his skin was on fire and his breath burned in his lungs. Then he had disappeared. He had literally felt his body break apart as though it were made of gas. Unfortunately, despite his brain no longer existing, his awareness was still there, fully conscious and silently screaming as he was taken South on some sort of gust of artificial wind along with the disembodied traces of his captors. After a long time the traces of his body seemed to settle in one place and slowly he was pieced back together.

He vomited up the pancakes he had snacked on while cooking breakfast earlier. They did not taste good the second time around. He heard raucous laughter around him as his clearly unaffected captors examined their prisoner.

"So much for the Goblin King. Pathetic."

"Bit rougher than flying is it? Feathers a bit ruffled?" _Feathers?_ Caleb wondered if everyone here in this world was on some sort of drug.

"Enough. Take him up to the Princess. She's waited long enough for this." Caleb tried to stand but couldn't. His legs were weak.

"Come on then give us a hand. This guy's heavy."

Caleb found himself being heaved up again and dragged. He looked around him. He was in the courtyard of what looked like a huge palace. The building looked almost Japanese, except heavier and less attractive. There were no gardens. The palace looked like a fortress. There were a lot of stairs. Caleb made the choice to attempt to climb them rather than be dragged up by whatever hand-hold his abductors would use.

"That's better." One of them said approvingly. "Face your problems head-on."

"And what a problem!" One laughed. Caleb shook his head. What the hell had Jareth done to this Princess? Suddenly his selfless act in the kitchen seemed like the worst idea he'd ever had in his life.

_ I'm really taking one for the team here, little brother. You'd better be taking care of my son!_ Caleb mentally shouted at Jareth.

He numbly climbed stairs and walked through corridors not really noticing where he was going. He was dimly aware of suits of armour, nothing like the ones at Goblin City, decorating the hallways. To his relief they didn't talk. Tapestries on walls depicted scenes of war. Armies wearing bronze and copper coloured armour chased weak, fleeing enemies. Huge machines that looked somewhat like steam engines destroyed settlements and cities. Caleb wondered what was in store for Goblin City, and hoped again that Jay was safe somewhere.

After climbing up higher and higher getting to more richly decorated hallways he was finally allowed to stop in front of an ornately carved wood and metal door. He breathed heavily. At least he could stop walking now. He was getting hot in Jareth's over the top leather jacket. One of his abductors pounded on the door.

"Presenting The Goblin King, as per Her Highness' request!" he shouted. The doors opened smoothly and silently. Caleb was pushed inside.

It wasn't a dungeon (_dungeons are downstairs_, he told himself), or a throne room or anything. It resembled Jareth and Sarah's suite back in Goblin City, clearly a living space of some kind. It was far more ornate. Everything was red and gold. Thick red carpets, gold leaf on the walls, carved red wood furniture. He found himself preferring Sarah's love of beige.

Suddenly something red moved in the room. He hadn't noticed that someone, the Princess obviously, wearing red was sitting on a sofa.

She was shorter than him and petite. He couldn't say what she looked like although considering his grotesque attackers were from the same place he wasn't expecting much. She wore a red mask over the top half of her face. Her dark hair was done in some sort of messy yet elaborate beehive and her dress was over the top with its red and gold layers and frills and braiding and lacing...why didn't anyone Underground believe in dressing down?

"Bring him here." The Princess said. She spoke softly and almost carelessly but Caleb's captors instantly obeyed, shoving him inside and forcing him to his knees before bowing themselves. The Princess made no effort to get up, or even to look at him. "It's been a long time Jareth." _They all look alike, filthy humans!_ That one had said back in the kitchen. Caleb tried to think what Jareth would say.

"Yes. Indeed. How have you been?" he forced an annoyingly cheerful expression into his voice.

"I've been plotting my revenge on your for almost ten years now."

"Really?" Caleb said. "I hadn't given you a second thought!" This time the Princess looked at him and Caleb could almost see her glare. She stood up from her comfortable looking seat and walked over to where he knelt on the floor, his three abductors still guarding him. He couldn't help but notice what looked like a red leather riding crop in her left hand. Caleb made a mental note to try and not be so much of a smart arse from now on.

"You've gotten fat." She said. Caleb glared. So he was bigger boned than his brother but he was _not_ fat! "And you've aged. What have you done with your hair?" she grabbed a handful of his black hair streaked with grey and yanked his head back. Caleb clenched his teeth as he was forced to stare into the eye holes of her red mask. She held him there for a while, and then looked up above his head at the creatures standing behind him. Caleb tried to move but found himself frozen in place.

"Where did you find him?" she asked.

"In the kitchen in his castle, your Highness. It was easy, straight in and straight out." The one in charge said, clearly pleased with himself. The princess released Caleb and sat back down on her sofa, watching him.

"You do a good impersonation of the King. You even look like him. You have the same eyes. Any of the Nameless Ones would be fooled. Even my brother the Emperor himself." She said. Caleb's stomach knotted. The princess reached up and grasped her mask. Caleb felt her captors squirm and shift around as she removed it.

She was human. Caleb couldn't think of what to say. Her eyes were dark and round, decorated with more red and black makeup than he'd seen on anyone outside of Halloween. She still almost looked as though she wore a mask underneath her mask. But her features, small delicate nose, round ears and lack of horns were clearly human. Caleb swallowed and wondered how the hell that had happened, and was starting to get a rough idea of what had transpired between her and his brother. She was quiet beautiful, or would be under the swathes of silk and eyeliner. She was glaring at him.

"Just who...the hell...are you?"


	8. Chapter 8

Just a short one this time. It includes a couple of thoughts I had while watching the movie for the gazillionth time a few weeks ago...

Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth, but my bedroom kinda looks like one...

8

Jay stood in front of the two two-headed dogs in front of the two doors he was supposed to choose from.

"Can you say that again?" he asked. All four of the dogs' heads sighed. Hoggle grumbled. Again.

"Will you just listen? They've said it seven times!"

"I feel the need to point out if you'd stuck with Sarah in her quest you, most cowardly Dwarf, would know the answer already!" Sir Didymus chimed in.

"Shut up." Growled Hoggle.

"One of us always tells the truth. One of us always lies." The dogs heads said in unison.

"So which door do I take?" Jay asked.

"Mine!" They all shouted at him. Jay blinked.

"I don't get it." All of the heads grumbled and one of them swore. Jay looked at the upside-down heads down the bottom of the dogs' shields. "So how do you guys go to the bathroom?" he asked.

"You don't want to know." The Blue one mumbled.

"Not the way you're thinking!" The red one said with a huff. Jay blinked again.

"You're lying!" he pointed a finger at the red one. It went to protest and then fell silent.

"Way to go numbskull." The red head at the top grumbled. Jay grinned.

"I'll pick the blue door!" he said. The blue knight opened the door and stood aside for him.

"Awesome!" Jareth exclaimed. "Bye!" he ran through the door, followed closely by Hobble, Sir Didymus and Ambrosius.

Then the floor disappeared from beneath them. Jay screamed. Hoggle and Ambrosius howled as Sir Didymus shouted "Treachery!" Jay felt something grabbing at him and his fall slowed. A face looked out at him from the wall. Helping hands. He'd never seen them but Sarah had warned him about them on his first visit.

They weren't so scary. They kinda tickled. Ambrosius was still howling.

"Shhh!" Jay hissed at the dog. He looked at the fingered face. "Hi."

"Hello there." It said.

"We're- ," another face began.

"Helping hands. I know! How do you do that it's really cool." Jay tried to see if he could make a face with his hands. He found he needed more than two to make it work.

"Yes, well..." the face grumbled, miffed at the interruption. "Up or down?"

"What?" Jay asked.

"Do you wish to go up or down?" another face said impatiently.

"I get to choose?" Jay asked, surprised.

"Of course. It's part of the whole 'helping' thing." The face said to him. Jay looked around.

"I'll go up thanks." He said. The hands grumbled as they slowly worked to lift the four of them back up to the surface. Ambrosius whimpered at his fur being pulled, followed by an occasional 'Sorry!' from the hands.

At the top of the well-like hole they'd fallen down there was only a short passage way to another door leading outside. Jay looked down into the black pit they'd been lifted out from and shook his head.

"Who would be dumb enough to choose 'down'?" he wondered.


	9. Chapter 9

9

Caleb decided to be upfront with his abductor.

"Caleb. Caleb Purkis. My brother is the Goblin King." It still sounded strange to say that sort of thing. The three creatures behind Caleb murmured quietly to each other.

"Jareth..." the Princess spat the name. "Doesn't have a brother."

"I think you'll find he does. We only found each other last year. Funny story that one...so...Princess..." Caleb waited for a name.

"I have no name. Not for your kind." She snapped.

"My kind? Apart from that being _blatantly_ racist, _my_ kind is _our_ kind, Highness. Now are you still planning on using that thing on me or can I get up now?" he gestured to the riding crop she still had in her hand. The Princess glared at him, and then up at the three oafs behind him.

"You brought me THE WRONG HUMAN!" she shouted. "Bring me the Goblin King _now_!"

"Yes Your Highness!" They all shouted and bolted out of the room. The Princess sighed and rubbed her eyes in the same pained expression Caleb had seen Jareth use when the Goblins got too much to handle.

"Rough day?" he asked sympathetically. She frowned at him.

"Why are you here?"

"Honestly? My little boy is in that city your soldiers are about to attack. I had the choice to let Jareth be taken and the rest of us all die, or take his place and hope he comes through and saves the day."

"You have _no_ idea the plans you ruined."

"I have a vague idea." He gestured to the riding crop. "So what did he do to you anyway? The whole running of the Labyrinth and forced marriage thing he tried with Sarah?"

"No. Not that it is any of your business but we were to be married once." Caleb blinked.

"Really?" It wasn't really surprising. They would have been the only two humans Underground for a long time, and she was very attractive. "What happened?"

"He called it off." Caleb waited for the rest of the story.

"That's it?"

"He called it off _after_ defiling me."

"Ouch."

"It was an insult to this entire Empire for him to treat the Princess in that way." Caleb watched, entertained as the self-righteous anger built up.

"Of course it was. Why did he call it off?"

"He said he had _given his heart_ to someone else, and that I wasn't his type." She spat.

"Bastard."

"Yes. He is."

"And I suppose you were left holding the baby?" he finished her story for her. She paused.

"Baby? What baby?"

"There wasn't one? I just assumed what with all the pent-up rage and all..." Caleb said. She looked disgusted at the thought.

"Of course not!" Caleb rolled his eyes.

"Well then I hate to break it to you, Princess, but that's really not worth going to war over. Yeah he deserved a good slap across the face or something but seriously, getting screwed and dumped isn't exactly the end of the world. It happens all the time. This doesn't make you special, it makes you pretty ordinary."

"You are just like him aren't you? I suppose you did the same to your boy's mother?"

"No, actually, we were married. She left me with our son to run off with a work colleague." She blinked.

"Oh." Caleb felt her invisible grip on his body loosen. He slumped to the floor, feeling a bit dizzy after his ordeal. "Make a move and I'll hang you upside-down from the ceiling." She warned.

"I'm sure you would." Caleb was new to all this but he could tell she was using the same sort of magic as Jareth and Sarah did, not the alchemy/chemistry/sorcery blend of the other creatures. "What are you going to do with me?" he asked. She threw her hands up.

"I don't know! I wasn't expecting _you_!" she snapped.

"Well...not that I mean to be a problem or anything but I lost my breakfast on the trip and could use some freshening up."

"The bathroom is over there." She gestured towards another door. "Don't try anything stupid. If I don't get you the hundreds of guards in this castle will." Caleb had no intention of doing anything stupid. As self-absorbed as this woman was he much preferred to be in her presence than face an uncertain future in a dungeon somewhere.

Caleb found a nice bathroom with a flushing toilet (of which he was grateful for), sink and a deep, round bathtub. He was also relieved to find toothpaste. Clearly whoever these people were they had links to his world just like his brother and the Goblins did.

He emerged with a clean face, neater hair and without the taste of vomit in his mouth. The jacket was growing on him too. He'd liked the look of it in the mirror. Jareth definitely not getting it back now. He felt rather dashing even with his faded jeans and Converse AllStars, like a medieval rock-god Dr. Who.

The Princess sat at a table looking out of the window absently spinning three crystals in her small hand. Caleb wondered if anyone would ever teach him to do that.

"So what exactly is the plan in Goblin City if you don't mind me asking?"

"Destruction. Domination. Acquisition of a magic that can destroy the world." She answered calmly. Caleb raised his eyebrows.

"In Goblin City? I hate to tell you, Princess, but that place is a dump."

"Yes it is but my brother has plans for it anyway."

"Your brother...is the king of those creatures?" he asked.

"Our father...his father adopted me after I was wished away by...someone. I appeared in this land and was brought before the Emperor as a curiosity. He took me in and raised me as his own. Now he is gone and his son rules."

"Are you and the new Emperor...you know?" Caleb couldn't imagine anything worse than having to sleep with one of those things.

"No." She glared. "They find us as repulsive as..."

"As we find them." Caleb finished the sentence. She looked away from him. "Then why are you here?"

"I was supposed to be the Goblin Queen, married to another human."

"Spying for your brother?" Caleb guessed. She didn't answer.

"I have nowhere else to go." She said.

"What about Above? Find your family and live as a normal human."

"Whoever wished me here didn't want me. My family doesn't want me. This is my family now."

"That's what Jareth thought. My mother insisted he was somewhere magical and was happy but she missed him until the day she died. I never forgave myself for teasing him so badly he wished himself away." She stared back out the window.

"It's too late for me. And for your brother. The Emperor has started the invasion and will have his prize."

"And my son?"

"Would not be harmed deliberately." She sent a crystal floating over to him. "See for yourself. We are not in the business of hurting innocents. I'm sure he is safe and well somewhere." The crystal floated in front of Caleb. He took it.

"Show me Jay." He told it, feeling a bit silly talking to a bubble.

Clouds formed and shifted in the bubble. He could see what looked like a hedge maze and a small boy running around inside it. Caleb could almost hear him giggling. He felt tears come to his eyes, and a sense of relief when he recognised the Dwarf running after him. "He's alright." He said. The princess walked over to where he was and gazed into his crystal.

"He is...cute." she spoke the words as if they were unfamiliar to her. "Isn't he a bit young to be trying his luck at the Labyrinth?"

"The what?" _Labyrinth?_ What would Jay be doing in there? He looked closer and shouted; "_Damn_ _you Jareth!_ Is this your idea of keeping him safe?"

I know, I know enough with the OC's (although I do quite like Caleb. He's a smart arse.) I promise we'll get back to our favourites next chapter...


	10. Chapter 10

10

Sarah sat on the floor against a wall of the map room with two of the armed guards watching over her. Map room was a bit of an understatement. It seemed to extend from the basement of the castle all the way up a whole tower of the castle. She was at the bottom but there were stairs and levels containing maps that went up as far as she could see in the lamplight. She wondered what the magic of this castle could do. Like the TARDIS, everything seemed bigger on the inside. The emperor slowly and painstakingly scoured the map room. His guards were little use. Sarah suspected from their aimless searching of maps and the shrugs they gave each other that they could not read.

She shifted on the cold stone floor. She certainly wasn't offering to help. She fidgeted and rubbed her hands together. Those dull, black anti-magic gloves made her hands feel cold and clammy.

Sarah wasn't sure how long she sat there trying not to think about Jareth going through who knew what sort of punishment by the mysterious Princess, or of Caleb who was possibly dead. Jay at least was safe. Sarah's eyes welled with tears as she tried to imagine how to tell the boy about his father... she silently promised Caleb she would take care of him. She wrapped her arms around herself. It was cold down here below the dungeons. She could see the Emperor now. He had to be halfway up the tower. He meticulously checked every rolled up map, every map on display, every scrunched up piece of paper he came across. Apparently these old forgotten magicians who inhabited the castle long ago were lousy at cataloguing. The oil lamp the Emperor carried dimly lit the stone walls and ceiling of the map room in the dark. It did not extend as high as Sarah had thought. She could see the ceiling now made of rough wooden cracks. She frowned, slightly concerned at the black cracks and lines the ceiling was riddled with. Goblin City and the Labyrinth were crumbling. She really, really didn't want to be down here when the whole thing decided to collapse in on itself.

After looking at the ceiling Sarah began to wish she hadn't. Something was happening. The cracks and marks in the wood were blurring and moving. From her limited experience with magic Sarah knew that only she could see this happening. They were forming patterns, no, pictures. It wasn't a map as such, but more like the first draft of an animation. She could see a figure with long dark hair and a flowing shirt (herself, duh) walking around and looking confused. Then the figure came to a staircase and jogged down it. Then down another. Through an archway, Then another. Sarah watched, fascinated, as the figure ran down more and more stairs. The stairs started to fragment and break apart from each other, seeming to float into nothing and still the figure jumped from one to the next, moving downwards the whole time, until finally reaching solid ground and a door. Above the door was a sign. Sarah's skin crawled when she read it and she looked away.

She now knew exactly what the Emperor was looking for. Now to not let him know she knew...

Sarah didn't know how long she sat on the ground. Her backside and legs were numb and her back ached.

Suddenly a crystal floated in through the door to the map room. Sarah's heart leapt in her chest. Jareth! She screamed internally. But the crystal floated right past her and up, up, up towards the Emperor.

Sarah couldn't see the image in the ball. He was several storeys above her and illuminated only by a dim lamp. But the voices were clear enough in the silence.

"Princess. You are right on time." The Emperor said, putting down the map he was examining.

"You doubted me, Emperor?" A woman's voice replied. She spoke sharply as if angry.

"No, of course not. The troops are in position then?"

"Ready to advance on the Labyrinth."

"The engines?" Engines? That didn't sound good.

"In position and just about ready to go. How goes your mission?"

"We are just about done here." He said. Liar, Sarah thought. He didn't have the faintest idea what he was looking for. "How goes your sport with King Jareth?" he asked.

"It could be better." She said. "Your goons brought me the wrong human."

"What?" The Emperor snapped. "What do you mean?"

"I mean the three of them came up to my suite and deposited the wrong human. Jareth's older, fatter brother!"

"For the last time I'm not fat!" a muffled voice said. Caleb? The Princess had Caleb? That meant...

"Do you mean to tell me the Goblin King is STILL IN THIS CITY?" The Emperor roared.

"That is a fair assumption to make." The princess said.

"And you didn't see fit to tell me?"

"I sent your incompetent henchmen back to pick him up, I'm sure he's more or less under control by now." Sarah ached to send a crystal of her own to scry Jareth out but those cursed gloves stopped her from doing it.

"You tell me the moment you have him in custody!" The Emperor snapped. "Incompetent fools. I am surrounded by incompetent fools."

"Your brother sounds like a bit of an ass." Caleb's voice came through again.

"And kill that human! He is of no use to us."

"No!" Sarah shouted. The Emperor laughed.

"What is this one yours too? Do you have a whole collection of male suitors at your beckon call?"

"He's done nothing to you! He's just visiting for crying out loud!"

"Then he's in the wrong place at the wrong time, isn't he?"he paused. "Unless of course you know something that could be of some use to me?" Sarah glared up at the small figure of the Emperor. She had not moved from her spot. He could not possibly know what she had seen.

If it had been Jareth she would have spoken. If it had been little Jay...but as much as she loved Caleb she could not sacrifice the entire Underground for him.

She hated herself for it. But she was the Goblin Queen, and this land had to come first. She looked away.

"Useless humans. You're all useless. Get rid of the brother and send me a crystal every ten minutes from now on. I want to signal the attack as soon as we find the weapon."

"As you wish my Lord." The bubble popped. Sarah's eyes filled with tears again, knowing she had just killed her friend.

The Emperor looked around the expanse of maps and sighed. He began the long walk down the winding staircases down to the ground where Sarah sat crying silently. He stood before her.

"We have no more time to waste here, there is no map. Get up. We're walking." Sarah was dragged to her feet by the guards. She cried out in pain. In her numb state she had stepped badly and twisted her ankle. Pins and needles prickled her legs and she knew it would hurt far, far more in a minute or two. The Emperor growled and slapped her across the face in frustration. "Idiot girl! You will walk!" A guard prodded her with the end of his spear and she fell to the ground.

"I can't walk you deformed piece of shit!" she shouted. The Emperor stood before her for a moment as though he meant to kick her.

"Pick her up and carry her. Don't worry about being gentle about it." He said to the guards. "We make for the Chamber of stairs."

"What?" the word fell out of Sarah's mouth. How could he know?

"It was always, as you say, Plan B. I know the weapon is under the castle. I'd hoped a map would confirm the location but it wasn't meant to be. So now the only way is down."

Sarah was slung between the two guards in the rear and dragged along behind the Emperor. She managed to keep quiet but the tears flowed.

She had sentenced Caleb to death all for nothing.

Sarah shut her eyes. The guards dragged her along between them not too roughly or gently, the same as if they were dragging a large sack of potatoes, she thought. Her ankle throbbed painfully and she knew she would be no use to anyone in her current form. Her hands prickled as though they had pins and needles now. Those horrible gloves were getting worse.

They had hit the Chamber of Stairs and were sure enough going down and down. Sarah bit back cries as her foot bounced off the stone stairs. Her guards grunted as she became a much more awkward load on the rough ground.

"Don't drop her! If she dies we can't complete our work!" The Emperor shouted from down below. One of the guards, one not carrying her, thankfully, suddenly slipped and fell narrowly missing another guard and the Emperor himself. Another guard grabbed him as his feet dangled over empty blackness and he was dragged back up the stairs.

Sarah knew enough about this place to know falling here was not a good idea. The guard was cursing and breathing heavily.

"Get moving!" shouted the Emperor. "And watch where you're going!" Something white floated past Sarah's face. She lifted her head just high enough to see what it was.

A feather. The guard had slipped on a feather on the stairs.

Sarah thought she heard the flutter of wings in the blackness but dismissed the thought as wishful thinking.

The blackness grew thicker as they descended. The Emperor's lamp illuminated only the few steps beneath them. The guards were all getting nervous. Even the Emperor paused every so often trying to peer into the blackness. Every now and then a crystal would appear and the Princess's bored voice would startle everyone.

"Are you there yet?" she asked in a monotone. For the first few times the Emperor said "No." After that he simply smacked the bubble away. But they kept on coming.

Another bubble appeared and circled the Emperor several times. This one made no sound and contained no image. He took the bubble in his hand and peered into it, closer and closer.

"Princess?" Jareth's face appeared inside it.

"Boo!" he shouted.

The Emperor swore and hit out at the bubble, knocking the nearest guard to him off the stairs. With a scream the guard fell into blackness. The guards panicked and started shouting amongst themselves.

"Now now was that necessary old boy?" Jareth's voice said again, this time from the blackness around them. The Emperor drew a curved dagger and held it at Sarah's throat.

"I'm warning you Jareth, she's dead if you come any closer!" he shouted.

"You have nowhere to go, Emperor. Call off this attack and I might be generous enough to let you leave alive."

"Never! This city and all the abominations you house here will be obliterated!" he shouted. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of acrid-smelling powder and sprinkled it over himself. "I'll be back!" he shouted, ignited the powder with his lamp, and vanished into a cloud of smoke...

Only to appear again, behind Sarah and her guards. The guards dropped her and she clung to the stone step. She could not see his face behind the mask but could tell the Emperor was terrified.

"What is this?" he demanded.

"I just passed a local by-law this morning banning the use of all sorcery and sorcery-related travel in and out of this city or the surrounding Labyrinth. If you wish to escape..." Jareth appeared in person at the bottom of the stairs. He looked like a demon all in black with his wild hair and black-rimmed eyes. "I would start running now." He hissed. The Emperor and his guards turned and ran up the stairs and he sent a few blasts of lighting after them.

Sarah's eyes met Jareth's and she went limp with relief. She was safe...well, relatively. Neither of them moved until the shouting and stomping of feet faded high above them, then Jareth knelt down before her. She felt her lower lip tremble as he took her in his arms and stroked her hair.

"It's all right. I've got you." He said as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"It's Caleb. Jareth...I think he's dead. And it's my fault!" he didn't move. He just held her.

"I wouldn't count on that Sarah. He can talk his way out of most things. Come on." He pulled her up and held her in his arms. "We need to get up to the surface." She wiped her eyes.

"No. I need to go down." She said. "I think...the Underground wants me to." Jareth frowned.

"It's not safe. You're injured and there's about to be a war on upstairs."

"I know...I know but in the map room I saw something. I need to keep going down."

"I have a map room?" he asked. Sarah really didn't want to leave him again. "You need to go upstairs to the battle." He went to talk but she held a finger on his lips. He recoiled from the black glove and angrily yanked them off her hands.

Warmth flooded through her and she instantly felt better.

"I might be able to help you from downstairs. Whatever the Emperor was looking for might be able to help us too." She said. "You know this castle won't hurt me."

"I don't like it." He said. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "You're right of course, this is between you and the Labyrinth, the castle and probably the whole damned Underground. Whatever is going on here. All right. On one condition. I'm sending Ludo down to you."

"You'll need him up there." She began.

"Not negotiable!" he shouted. She clamped her mouth shut. She was feeling fragile and he was looking very intimidating. She felt herself tear up again. He frowned at her.

"Stop that! Snap out of it! You're not allowed to fall apart you're the bloody heroine in this story, remember? Not the damsel in distress! Where is my screaming banshee of a wife when we need her?" Sarah laughed through the tears, wiped her eyes and tried to compose herself.

"You're right. Okay. Send Ludo down. Tell him to come down the stairs, as far down as they go and wait for me at the bottom." Sarah gazed into his mismatched eyes and stroked his wild hair. "Be careful up there." She kissed him. It lasted longer than she had planned, and it was Jareth who eventually broke away.

"Go. Before I change my mind." He stood back. She looked back at him one last time before shifting into her cat form. The owl may have suited Jareth but she preferred to be on the ground. She moved quickly down the stairs on her three good legs and her feline eyes had no problem seeing in the darkness. She heard a flutter of wings behind her and watched as the snowy owl circled her once and flew away.


	11. Chapter 11

11

Jay made his way carefully across the Bog of Eternal Stench jumping from stepping stone to stepping stone. He was starting to wonder what the big deal was about this place. Sure it was a bit scary at first but it wasn't that hard to find your way. And some thoughtful person had even left stepping stones on the infamous bog! He supposed it would have been harder for Aunt Sarah having Uncle Jareth chasing her and tormenting her the whole time but really, this champion thing wasn't that hard. He could see Goblin City much closer now. He wondered if there was a prize at the end of the road.

"I tell yer this place brings back bad memories." Hoggle said shaking his head.

"Dost thou mean when thou turnest traitor and poisoned our fair maiden?" Sir Didymus inquired.

"Shut up you overgrown furball." Hoggle growled. Jay frowned. He thought he heard voices other than those of his friends.

"Shhh!" he hissed.

"Furball? How darest thou insult me. I, who cometh from a long line of warriors committed to the protection of..."

"Shhh!" Jay hissed again and motioned for them to be quiet. Sure enough, there were the voices again.

"I don't know what happened! We were supposed to appear in the castle."

"Dammit you fool! Next time I'm in charge of the powder."

"What's that smell anyway? I thought it was one of you two but that is a whole new level of bad..." Jay peered around a tree trunk and saw three creatures who looked like something between a human and a goblin. One was standing, two were sitting. All looked lost.

"We must be in the Labyrinth. It's the only explanation."

"Why the hell would we be in there?"

"I don't know. Do you have a better explanation?" Jay watched them unsure of what to do. Sir Didymus would shout 'CHARGE!' and fight to the death. Hoggle would run and hide. Jay wondered what his father would do.

He walked out to meet the creatures.

"Hi." He said. All three jumped up and grabbed for their weapons.

"What is it?"

"Careful. It looks like it's quick. It could be dangerous!" Jay giggled. One, a braver one who wore some sort of medal on his chest and was bigger than the other two, stepped forward.

"Just who are you then?" it asked.

"I'm Jay. Who are you?" he asked. Most children would be afraid of these creatures. Jay was considered definitely not 'most children' by his father, his teachers, his mother (wherever she was now) and that doctor who argued with his dad about giving him something called Ritalin. He stared the creature down. It was interrupting his quest.

"You're a small human aren't you?" it asked. Jay glared.

"I'm bigger than the other kids at my school." He crossed his arms.

"No names for you then. Names only for the Nameless Ones." It said. Jay blinked.

"That made no sense." He said. The big weird goblin-man turned to his friends.

"What do I do with it? It's not the King. The Princess won't want another wrong human."

"Leave it alone. We need to find the King."

"What do you want the King for?" Jay asked.

"Our Princess wants a word with him." One of the seated goblin-men answered. The others laughed.

"Why isn't she here then?" Jay asked.

"Because that's not how things are done, young human." The standing one answered. "Now, do you know the way to Goblin City?" he asked. Jay shrugged.

"Not really. But I'm running the Labyrinth so I guess I'll find it soon." Failure was not something Jay considered as a possibility. The goblin-men glanced at each other.

"Mind if we follow you? We're lost." Jay shrugged.

"Okay. You're not going to hurt my uncle, are you? He's the King."

"Of course not. As I said, our Princess just wants... a word with him."

"All right then. This way I think." Jay walked off along a dirt path that looked as though it were leading into a garbage heap.

"Jay." Hoggle said. Jay was surprised he had come out from behind the tree. "Jay you can't trust these creatures. They're from the South. They're the enemy." Sir Didymus growled in agreement. Ambrosius whimpered.

"Relax. They're going the same way as us. Anyway, my uncle could beat these guys any day." He said. Hoggle looked back at the three hulking creatures.

"Never thought I'd be looking to King Jareth to save me." He muttered.


	12. Chapter 12

Sorry for the delay in updates but I'm having a bit of writers' block with the next chapter I promise I'll update again soon I've got to finish this thing asap since school goes back next week. Enjoy!

12

Caleb sat very still after the Princess' conversation with her brother, once again lamenting his big mouth getting him into trouble. Maybe if he was quiet for long enough she'd forget he was there. After a while she spun two crystals, sent one out the window and kept the other in her hand.

"He is dead. Are you there yet?" she asked in a dull monotone.

"No." The Emperor's voice growled.

Caleb gazed at the unreadable Princess who sat absently spinning two crystals in her hand. Every now and then she would send one out the window, await instructions from the Emperor, and then go back to sitting quietly when there were none.

Eventually she sighed.

"This would be much easier for me if you would do something to make me angry." She said. _I could pretend to be my brother again_, he thought but decided not to say that aloud. He met her eyes.

"Listen if you're going to do it could you make it quick?" he wondered if death really was death here, or if you simply woke up at home. Either way would do him no good, not with Jay mindlessly wandering the Labyrinth alone.

"You're very demanding for a prisoner." The Princess said.

"Not really. Most prisoners get fed, you know. I didn't want to say anything but..."

"Oh shut up! Do you ever stop talking?"

"Sorry." He said. There was an awkward silence. "You could just let me go and say I overpowered you and escaped."

"Be realistic Caleb." She snapped. Caleb rolled his eyes, and then began to laugh at the bizarre situation he was in. She looked outraged. "Are you insane? Why are you laughing? This is not funny!" Caleb stood up, tired of all the drama. The Princess jumped up and held her arms in front of her.

"Relax. I don't want to hurt you. But I'm leaving now I need to go back to the city and find my son. You can either kill me as I walk away, or you can let me go." He approached the tiny woman who appeared frozen with indecision and smiled. Caleb gently touched her cheek and kissed her lips. "Either way, goodbye Princess. It was nice meeting you." He turned and walked out the door and wasn't really surprised when she didn't stop him.

There were no guards in sight as he walked down the deserted hallways of the castle. Everyone must be at the battle, he thought to himself. He supposed the princess really didn't need much protection, she could take care of herself if need be. He jogged down flights of stairs, stopping at one decorative suit of armour to help himself to what looked like a bronze samurai sword. Just in case he needed one. He hoped he wouldn't, he'd never even taken a self-defence class in his life, and hadn't been in a fight since junior high when someone made fun of his accent. And he'd lost. Miserably.

Downstairs at the main entry and exit to the palace he saw some armed Nameless Ones standing around. They weren't overly alert but he was pretty sure they would notice a six-foot-two human man trying to sneak past them. He began contemplating another exit route when there was a flapping noise and something struck the side of his head. He bit back a curse and batted whatever the thing was away from his head. It came back. It was some sort of black bird. He lashed out at it again and missed.

"Damnit will you just get the fu..." he bit his lip to smother the yelp of pain he was about to give when it bit his ear. He glared up at the bird as it fluttered away and perched on a rafter. It stared at him, flew back into the castle, and stared at him again. Caleb wondered if he was going insane, but slowly pointed at himself, made a 'walking' gesture with two fingers, and then pointed at the bird.

It nodded its head. Caleb's spine tingled, but when it flew further down the corridor he walked after it.

He followed the bird downstairs and through less elaborate hallways. At one point he saw some creatures, servants from their clothes, and was ready for a fight but no one looked at him. They all seemed to make a point of looking away as he approached. He glanced at the bird and it seemed to shrug and continue. He followed it through the kitchens and out a back door leading to what looked like a garbage dump. The bird perched in a sick-looking tree and waited for him. It was a raven. But different. It had red marks around its eyes, and read under its wings and tail.

Caleb was new to the whole magic thing here but he wasn't stupid.

"Thanks, Princess. I owe you one." He expected her to sit and watch him leave, but instead she fluttered down and perched on his shoulder. Uh oh...

"You're...coming, are you?" the bird nodded. "Oh...okay then."

The raven fluffed up its feathers in what looked like a shrug. Caleb looked around him. Beyond the garbage pile was barren land in all directions. Whatever drought Goblin City had been experiencing seemed to be happening here too. There was very little green in sight. "Which way do I go?" he asked. The Raven shook her feathers again and flew up into the air. Caleb expected directions but it seemed to hover, and then lightning appeared out of nowhere to strike him.

He coughed and opened his eyes. He tried to let loose a stream of abuse at the sadistic bitch but only high-pitched squeaks came out. He realised he was small. Very small. And he had paws. What the hell? The raven landed in front of him and he was frozen with sheer terror and the thought _it's going to eat me!_

Sure enough the raven pounced and gripped him in her talons. Caleb screeched in protest as she carried him up higher and higher, heading North.

He realised what had happened now. He tried to relax despite the claws digging into his fur (fur? He'd need to see a psychiatrist after this.) and let the Princess carry him home.


	13. Chapter 13

Sorry about the lack of updates people!

Disclaimer: Labyrinth is not mine. But I would like my own Ludo one day!

13

Jareth flew up out of the Chamber of Stairs through corridors and up yet more stairs, ducking and weaving and startling the Goblin guards on duty on his way to the Armoury. He shifted back into his human form outside the door and the two Goblins guarding it bowed as he passed.

The room was mostly full of Goblin sized armour and weapons. Short swords, axes, hammers, baseball bats (Jareth always wondered where they came from) and maces for the most part. He walked straight to the back of the long room to where his own armour stood of its own accord.

Jareth had been trained in combat by the Goblns and had taught himself some basic martial arts out of books in the library and had even attained a supposed black belt from some sort of shonky Karate by Korrespondence course he had come across Above during the Karate Kid fad in the 80's. He practiced against the goblins and even some nasty enchanted suits of armour but had never actually been in a battle before.

He stood and gazed at the armour he hadn't worn since it had been fitted for him who knew how long ago.

"Guards!" he called. The two Goblins from outside scurried in.

"Yes Majesty?" one asked nervously.

"Assist me. Get me into this contraption." He waved his hand at one of the suits. This one was mostly chain mail with a black breastplate and a replica of his insignia done in silver on the chest. After some bustling about on the part of the Goblins and poking and prodding into areas the Goblin King found most uncomfortable he was dressed in his armour. Jareth glanced at the helmet. Black metal with a half-visor and decorated with white feathers. He liked the look of it, although it was going to mess up his hair something shocking.

He grabbed his weapon of choice from its rack, a black-hilted double-edged sword. There were guns available but he had designed these himself from books in the library and available technology, and the things were quite unstable. They were really only used by Goblins for New Years Eve celebrations when they ran out of fireworks.

He looked around, mentally reminding himself to install a mirror in the armoury for the next epic battle. He turned to the Goblins.

"How do I look?" he asked.

"Most fearsome Your Majesty." One said.

"Pure awesomeness!" said the other. Clearly Jay-isms were entering the Underground vocabulary. Jareth gathered up some backup weaponry and left the room. He wondered what Sarah would think of his clinking outfit. He felt rather dashing...

She would laugh. Out loud. Her sense of style was not one of her strong points.

He made his way through the city shouting orders mostly consisting of "Don't light that fuse yet!" and "Don't hold it by the pointy end, you fool!" at his Goblin army. Morale was still high. The Goblins loved their king and were happy for attention from him, even if he was shouting at them. Jareth would have liked to be viewing the opposing army from above in owl form but he couldn't shift while carrying all that armour. Instead he spun a crystal and held it in his hand. Show me my enemy, he commanded it.

The crystal blurred and then showed him the massing army. It wasn't as big as he had feared, but with it was a machine of enormous proportions. He had never seen such machines outside of books, but it looked like a cross between a steam engine and a tank made of copper and bronze. It had huge tracks instead of wheels, heavy armour on the front and a chimney belching steam out the top of its cab. It puffed steam and sat, ready to go. Jareth wondered what use it would be to the army. The entire labyrinth stood between the army and the city.

Then the crystal blurred again and Jareth saw the Emperor. He was standing on top of one of the towers of Jareth's castle. Jareth frowned. What would he possibly be doing up there? Then he saw his Goblin Mage and teacher and his heart froze. The two faced each other. They seemed to be speaking, and then the Emperor struck the mage, picked up the small, frail Goblin, and threw him from the tower.

"No!" Jareth shouted, but it was too late. The Mage was gone.

And so was the enchantment protecting the city. The air shimmered around him. No one saw it but him and the Emperor.

The crystal showed the Emperor pace backwards and forwards on the tower. He reached into his pocket and pulled something out. The powder! Jareth cursed his stupidity in letting the Emperor leave the Chamber of Stairs alive. The powder ignited and sent up a jet of thick, black smoke that exploded above the castle like a firework.

"All Goblins man your stations!" Jareth shouted. They scuttled off to where they were meant to be. Jareth wasn't sure what would happen next. The army as still on the other side of the Labyrinth encircling the city.

He scried out Ludo's location with a crystal and teleported directly to him. Ludo was knocking two Goblins' heads together and hurling them on the ground.

"No time for lunch! Get to work!" he howled. Jareth approached the hairy beast.

"Ludo!" he barked. It turned and faced him, scowling.

"Where Sawah?" it demanded.

"She's in the castle at the very bottom of the Chamber of Stairs. She said for you to meet her there." Jareth said. "Now it's your turn to take care of her for me." Ludo's eyes lost some of their hostility.

"I go now! King Jareth go inside, this Goblin work now." he shouted as he loped away, still ordering Goblins into position as he went. Jareth mentally reminded himself to promote the creature later. He was a very useful Goblin-wrangler. As for Jareth waiting inside...that wasn't going to happen.

Suddenly a cry went up amongst the Goblin and the sounds of metal striking metal echoed through the city. Jareth could smell the acrid burning travelling powder the enemy had used to bypass the Labyrinth.

Oh dear. On cue a little bat flapped around Jareth's head several time and then clung to his black cape. Jareth breathed a sigh of relief.

"You did well Mage. Thankyou." He said. "Go and get somewhere safe." The mage-bat let go and flapped away.

Jareth teleported up on top of a wall for a better view. There were a few hundred of the enemy within his walls already scattered and in a heated battle with his troops. Jareth knew the powder was expensive and hard to come by; this was as many as would be transported inside the walls.

This would be easier than he had hoped.

He appeared in a quiet spot where several Goblins stood not currently engaged.

"Escort me." He commanded. He strode through the narrow streets gathering Goblins as he went. He soon had several boar-mounted Goblins, a handful of foot-soldiers and a mechanical suit following him. He walked front and centre cutting down enemies as they went. The escort grew and as their reputation spread the enemy fled before them. The Goblins and the Nameless ones separated and the two armies stood face to face, ready to clash. The Goblins cackled. The Nameless stood silent with masks hiding what Jareth knew would be expressions of hatred and contempt.

The Nameless truly hated their ancestors.

Jareth felt his anger rise at the enemy intent on killing his people.

"Kill the lot of them!" he roared. His Goblins cheered and rushed past him, clashing with the group of bronze-armored soldiers. Jareth hung back despite wanting to be in the thick of it all but had to content himself with the occasional soldier who broke through the ranks of his Goblins.

Another broke through and Jareth raised an eyebrow. This was no ordinary soldier. His mask was bronze rather than leather and his armour far more elaborate than the rest. Jareth grinned and bared his teeth at the commander in front of him.

"You dare challenge me, invader?" The creature said nothing but stood before him with twin curved swords in his hands. It lunged and swiped at Jareth, who motioned his small escort back. "This one is mine!" he said, swinging his double-ended sword around in an impressive arc that almost took the thing's head off. Almost. It ducked and rolled under the blade and swung at Jareth who only just blocked it in time.

He grinned at the challenge.

Their duel had attracted attention. A crowd of Goblins and the enemy formed around them, both seeming to have an unspoken agreement to not interfere. Jareth realised this may not have been the best idea he'd ever had. If he died (a strange concept) the battle was over, the King was dead. If he won, he'd killed a low-ranking commander. Big deal.

No, he said to himself, Sarah was still alive, safe down in the basement of the castle. Either way their side would win. Still he'd much prefer to go home to Sarah and act out that ravishing he'd been planning rather than go home in a box. He fought back against his fast, agile enemy who fought much better than the enchanted suits of armour he'd learned against. Jareth blocked another swipe aimed at his body and kicked the creature in the gut. It gasped, the first sign of pain it had shown so far. Encouraged Jareth swung low at the thing's feet and it just didn't jump high enough. It was knocked flat on its back with the pointy end of a blade held at its throat.

"Surrender." Jareth growled. It laughed. All of a sudden a deafening whistle could be heard echoing through the city. Jareth, with a massive effort, didn't flinch or move even as the creature laughed. All the Nameless were laughing now, and the Goblins were growling. Jareth's eyes narrowed, realising where that whistle was coming from.

The engine. In the heat of the battle they'd all forgotten about the engine.

"Here ends my mission, Goblin King." Hissed the commander. Jareth growled, swung the sword again and took the thing's head off. It flew and rolled over to the feet of one of the Goblins watching. Jareth stood and looked for the plume of steam coming from the engine. It was thick and moving towards them fast, still in the distance but...

There was a thundering crash as it struck the outer wall of the Labyrinth, and a cheer went up in the distance. Jareth's blood ran cold. _So that's what the engine is for_, he thought to himself. Another crash rang out and the second wall fell. With the Labyrinth in its sorry state the walls gave very little resistance to the huge machine and there was another crash.

The beauty of the Labyrinth was that to navigate it one had to traverse miles upon miles of obstacles, puzzles and, of course, the Bog of Eternal Stench. From outer to inner wall it really wasn't that big. No wonder the thing had grown in recent months. It was trying to defend itself from an attack it knew was coming.

It was no use. The walls were falling and it was only a matter of time until the engine was knocking on Goblin City's front gate, and thousands of the enemy would pour through the broken walls. Jareth spun a crystal in his hand.

"Sarah...we're done here. If you can escape go and get Jay from the Dwarf settlement to the North and take him Above." He paused. "I love you. Live a good life. If my brother is still alive...don't marry him. You can do better." He finished and sent it away. He turned to the Goblins and Nameless present, all of whom were watching the approach of the engine with open mouths.

"Goblins!" Jareth thundered. His voice snapped them all out of their daze. "Don't just stand there! Defeat the Nameless!"

Jareth let the Goblins rush past and charge the Nameless. He watched them cut down their outnumbered enemy, giving no opportunity for surrender or the taking of prisoners. If his city was to be destroyed then he would make sure the Goblins took as many of their enemy with them as they could.


	14. Chapter 14

Here we go. The finish line is in sight people! Again I know I haven't been updating often (as somebody has mentioned!) please understand I'm a job-hunting mum (and yes I realise it's sad that someone my age is still on this site) and I don't always have time to update every other day. I hope you enjoy and the next chapter is in production!

Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth. If I did then David Bowie's crotch probably wouldn't have gotten anywhere near as much air-time.

14

Sarah reached the bottom of the stairs. The last few dozen flights had been a challenge. She'd had to jump from flight to flight on her three good legs. On the last one she'd had no choice but to leap into the darkness. Fortunately she had landed safely a few yards down.

She sat on the stone floor, licked her paw and washed her ear.

Tongue still half hanging out of her mouth she looked around her. There was a stone wall with a door in it in front of her. All else was black. The door had a torch on either side of it that illuminated very little. There was a wooden sign above the door which she couldn't read for no other reason than that cats can't read.

Sarah sat in front of the door with her tail twitching, gazing up at the door handle. She really didn't want to shift back just yet because her cat form handled pain much, much better than Human Sarah did. The door, however, wasn't impressed by Feline Sarah. Taking a deep breath Sarah shifted back and bit back a groan. Her leg really hurt. She gave the sign above the door one last look before she passed through.

It said 'Sarah's Room'.

She limped through the doorway and found herself in a chamber lit by what appeared to be a glowing crystal suspended in the centre of the room. She approached it slowly gazing around the room as she went. She could barely make out the walls of the round chamber but there were round objects that looked like paintings that stretched maybe halfway around the circle. The ceiling was dark.

Sarah reached the crystal that hovered at face level. It was about the size of a basket ball and the dim light seemed to pulsate as if it were alive. She peered into the crystal and gasped.

It was a globe. A living image of the entire world of Underground. Sarah stared mesmerised. She'd never really considered Underground as a world in itself. She could see oceans, mountains, deserts and islands. There wasn't a lot of green to be seen.

As Sarah wondered where Goblin City was located the crystal spun around until she was faced with a smallish land-mass right on the Equator. No wonder it's so hot here, she thought. As she stared the crystal expanded above her and she saw the city in miniature. She saw the army at the edge of the Labyrinth and the huge engine puffing steam like some innocent train from her own world. From its position and construction she guessed at its purpose; to bash its way into Goblin City. "Oh no." She breathed. "How do I stop it?" The crystal shrunk down again. Sarah frowned. "Do you understand me?" Its light pulsed faintly once. "Can you help us? Can you stop the invasion?" It didn't move. Sarah looked around the room. "Can you give some more light?" No response. Sarah wondered if she had imagined its communication before. "Why am I here if you can't help me?" _Help, help, help, help_, said an echo. Sarah froze.

"Help? You need help?" she laughed. "What can I do? I'm just a human." _Help, human_, the chamber echoed. Sarah sighed. "Okay. What can I do? Just tell me it doesn't involve walking." Two pinpoints of light appeared on the floating crystal and shifted until they formed shapes.

They were hand prints.

Sarah drew in a deep breath and placed her hands on the prints. Instantly she felt a sensation as if her hands were above a vacuum and magic, her magic, was being sucked out.

"No!" she shouted and pulled away. The crystal was pulsing brighter than before. "I just got my magic back you're _not_ taking it away!"

_Not taking it away! Help, human_. The hand-prints shone brighter. Sarah glared at it and put her hands back. The sucking sensation began but slower and gentler this time. She felt magic trickle through her fingers but not a lot, no more than she could replenish with a sit-down and a cup of tea. She shut her eyes. The crystal felt warm and comforting and its white light grew brighter. Bright enough to see the paintings on the walls.

They were portraits. One or two looked like Goblins, a few were Dwarves and one was even of Ludo's kind, but the rest were human. There had to be a few dozen of them, and then blank wall. She looked at the last one. It was a teenage girl with dark hair and green eyes.

"What the..." she pulled away from the crystal and limped over to inspect it. Sure enough it was her. The paintings weren't so much paintings as some sort of photograph under a bubble of glass. She looked at the portraits beside it. "These are the Champions aren't they?" she asked. The crystal pulsed once.

_Champions. Champions magic help me_, it said. She limped back and put her hands back on the crystal.

"Who are you?" It didn't answer. Sarah realised it couldn't talk. It could only echo her words back to her. She decided to use longer sentences.

"You look like a crystal the Goblins taught me how to make. Are you Goblin magic?"

_I taught Goblins how to make crystal. I taught Goblins magic_.

"You were here before the Goblins then. Did you make this city?" It was silent. "Yes or no?"

_No. Human Champions make city and crystal_. Well that was interesting.

"Then where are all the humans?" she asked. "Did they die?"

_Yes. Humans die. Magic die. Crystal die. City die_.

"But Jareth has been here for years. Couldn't he help you?"

_Jareth can't help me. Jareth just a human_.

"And you need a human Champion?'

Yes.

"Oh." Sarah sat quietly pouring her magic into the crystal hoping that this would actually accomplish something more than turning the lights up. "So now that you're feeling chatty can you tell me how to stop the invaders?"

_Crystal_ _has Champion magic now. City has Champion magic. City can help you_.

"What did the Emperor want with me?" she asked. "He said that this place could destroy the city or the entire Underground." The crystal seemed to shrink. The echoes were quieter.

_Destroy the crystal. Destroy Underground. Destroy...all_. Sarah frowned. It didn't have the right words. She didn't have time to increase its word power. She looked closer at the globe.

"What happens if someone damages the crystal?" she asked.

_Damages Underground_. So that was it. All the Emperor needed to do was put his boot through the crystal wall to wipe Goblin City off the map, and then transport out. It was no wonder he'd kidnapped her to try and win the easy way. Sarah felt uncomfortable with this new knowledge. She was now singlehandedly responsible for the wellbeing of Underground. _Crystal has magic. Champion stop the invaders now_. Sarah pulled her hands away. She felt a bit woozy and realised it had sneakily sucked out more and more as she'd sat there.

"I'll be back assuming we win the battle. It looks like you have a lot to teach me." She said.

_Be back Champion_.

"My name is Sarah by the way."

_Champion Sarah_. It echoed. A small crystal formed on the underside of it and floated towards the wall next to Sarah's portrait. It attached itself to the wall and began to grow. Sarah frowned. The crystal pulsed with light and gave the impression it was...excited?

"What was that?" she asked.

_That was a Champion_.

"A new Champion? Someone's run the Labyrinth?"

_A new Champion!_ It pulsed with pinkish light. Sarah frowned and walked over to the portrait.

"Who is it?" she asked.

_Champion Jareth!_ It said happily. Sarah frowned. Jareth? He was battling the Nameless. He hadn't been navigating the Labyrinth. She watched as the crystal changed shape to match the other portraits and then an image formed. It was a boy. He was blonde with a cheeky expression on his face and had mismatched blue and brown eyes.

"Jay? What the hell? He's supposed to be with the Dwarves!" she shouted. She had to find him and make sure he was alright. She got up to run out the door, landed on her bad ankle and fell to the floor. She let loose several expletives that the crystal happily and sympathetically repeated back to her. Sarah glared at it and shifted into her cat form. She still wasn't sure she'd make it back up the Chamber of Stairs. She was so tired.

_Crystal has a lot to teach Sarah. Bring Champion Jareth_.

Sarah twitched her tail and inclined her head before leaving.

The door of the chamber opened for her as she approached it, but when she saw the huge, hairy monster in the doorway she couldn't help but hiss and spit in fright. It was Ludo! He was sitting there patiently waiting for her. Sarah's heart melted and she head-butted his hairy hand. He was always there for her when she needed him.

She climbed into his lap and he patted her head with surprisingly gentle hands.

"Sawah." He said. "Jawef send Ludo to get you." He stood and lifted her into his arms. He howled into the darkness and flights of stone stairs lowered themselves for him to climb. Sarah purred as he carried her up the stairs and allowed her eyes to close for a little while.


	15. Chapter 15

Lovesjareth, you know I love your reviews

Here's a new chapter. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth. I can't think of any smart-ass conclusion today...

15

Jareth stood feeling utterly helpless as the huge machine rammed its way through the crumbling walls of the Labyrinth. The Nameless in the city were all gone. He had lost a few Goblins too. The opposing army followed in the engine's wake a fair bit behind it as it kept stopping and reversing to gain more momentum. Jareth did his best to motivate his somewhat demoralised army.

"Stay strong! Hang in there, there aren't that many of them!" he lied. He sent some down to the armoury to grab the guns and explosives down there. They may as well have some fun during the battle and there was nothing a Goblin liked so much as loud bangs and fire.

The ground shook as the engine grew closer. The walls started crumbling from the shock. Goblins began launching rockets and grenades blindly over the walls at it. There was some shouting from the approaching army as the explosives hit either the soldiers or the engine but nothing slowed its approach. Jareth could see and hear it only one wall away from the city. He put his helmet back on and prepared himself to meet the approaching army. He stared at the last wall between him and the enemy and he blinked. It seemed to shimmer. He shook his head and looked again. The crumbling stone was smooth and flawless. The engine hit it...

And stopped.

There was a tremendous crash and the sound of crushing metal as the engine collapsed in on itself.

Jareth's ears rang as he looked at the Goblins around him. They were all on the ground from the shock caused by the collision. There were no enemies in the city. The wall had held.

Jareth shed his armour and flew up above the city in owl form looking for an explanation.

He found it.

There Sarah stood in front of the city gate holding her hands against it. She seemed to be talking to it. The metal gate glowed where her hands touched it. He gazed out beyond the wall and saw thousands of soldiers. Some were on the ground. Some had been crushed by falling machine parts. Most stood looking perplexed. Jareth looked back to Sarah who was still standing there talking to the gate. He flew back to the Goblin army.

"Follow me!" he ordered, picking up his sword. They did as they were told.

They marched around the city until they came to the gate.

"The Queen!" some shouted. They formed a protective half-ring around her. She didn't seem to notice. Suddenly the city gates opened.

"No!" shouted Jareth, trying to stop her from walking through them. He charged through his own army to reach her and grab her arm. "Stop Sarah!" She looked at him. Her skin and eyes were glittering strangely and she looked as though she wasn't quite awake.

"It's alright." She said and kissed his cheek. She pulled away from him and stood in the gateway. The soldiers were running towards them hooting and laughing. The ground began to shake...

And the ground erupted around them sending up pillars of stone. As Jareth watched with disbelieving eyes the stone thundered into place and then smoothed itself out. Unneeded scraps of stone were invisibly carved off and fell to the ground where it ground itself up into gravel. All were silent. The Labyrinth had re-built itself. Sarah walked out into the Labyrinth as though something extraordinary didn't just happen. Jareth followed with the Goblin army close behind not entirely sure of what they were doing.

"Sarah? What are you doing?" he asked.

"Shhh no time for explanations now." She said, still clearly in her daze. She followed the passages until she came across a group of soldiers still recovering from the ordeal. Some were injured. Others were wandering around in a daze. Some were stuck on top of the high walls unable to get down. Jareth could see the wreckage of the engine suspended above the ground spread out across several walls. The enemy attempted some sort of defence against them.

"Enough." Sarah said quietly. The walls seemed to amplify her voice. "This city is fighting back you can't win this. Leave now and you will live. Spread the word to any you encounter on the way out."

"How? We can't find our way through all this?" one argued, gesturing to the high walls.

"There is only one passage for you and it leads out. Go home and don't come back." Sarah said. The soldiers slowly all looked at each other. Some shrugged. Others slowly got to their feet and limped along the passageway. The ground shook again and the soldiers stuck on the walls were knocked to the ground. Pieces of the engine's wreck started falling down around them.

After a few seconds they were on their way with the ground still rumbling below their feet. Sarah turned to Jareth.

"The rest will follow." She said after they were out of earshot. The Goblins cheered and chanted her name. Jareth held her and carefully touched her face. Her eyes were still glassy.

"Sarah. Come back to me." He commanded, weaving some of his magic into the words. She blinked and the glittering faded. She looked around her as if she wasn't sure where she was.

"Did it work?" she asked. Her voice sounded normal. Jareth laughed and lifted her into the air and spun her around.

"I have no idea what you just did but it worked." He said. She wrapped her arms around him.

"The city just needed its magic back." She said, as though it were a perfectly reasonable explanation. He kissed her. Before he was anywhere near done she pushed him away.

"Oh crap-on-a-stick. We need to find Jay now!" she said. Jareth blinked. That was not what he wanted to hear.

"Jay? He's up North with the Dwarves."

"No. He's somewhere in the city. I saw his portrait in the chamber he ran the Labyrinth!"

"Impossible!"

"Will you stop arguing with me?" she shouted. Jareth smiled. She was obviously feeling better.

"I'll look from the air. Goblins, protect the Queen."

"Protect the Queen!" they cheered. Sarah opened her mouth to protest.

"No 'buts' now Sarah. You don't know how many of the Nameless are lurking around corners." She glared.

"Fine." She whirled away. Jareth grinned again. There were days when she still very much reminded him of her haughty, arrogant teenage self. He passed his sword to a Goblin soldier and took off to find his errant nephew.


	16. Chapter 16

16

The mouse that was Caleb was dropped unceremoniously to the ground inside the Labyrinth. The Princess-raven landed on the ground beside him and shifted back into her human form. She crouched beside him breathing heavily. He squeaked in protest. She glared down at him.

"When was the last time you flew anywhere? Oh? You haven't? Then be quiet and let me rest." She snapped. He glared as well as a mouse can glare. They had arrived just as the whole Labyrinth had seemed to explode into a cloud of flying stone shards. When it cleared there were tall, smooth walls as far as the eye could see. She had circled the Labyrinth but they had been unable to find Jay.

Caleb sat on the ground frustrated. He turned his back on her and began washing his face with his paws. She couldn't understand. She wasn't a parent.

"I think I prefer you as a mouse. You're much quieter." Caleb squeaked what would have been a nasty expletive if he'd been human. She chuckled to herself and picked him up in her hand. "You realise what I've done coming here? I'm a traitor. A defector." She held him on her palm. Caleb's mouse brain wondered for the second time today if she was going to eat him. Suddenly she froze. She dropped him to the ground.

"_Run_." She hissed. Caleb rolled and backed into a corner as a creature emerged from behind a wall. It was big (everything was big to him at the moment) and wore a dusty yet elaborate gold brocade robe and a gold mask. He didn't have to think too hard about who this could be.

"Helena. What in the Underground are you doing here?" He demanded. "Where is your mask? You know you're forbidden to be without it!"

"I came to help your Excellency. My mask was lost on the way." She said too quickly.

"You stopped reporting in. I had to commence the battle myself." He walked in circles around her. The Princess...Helena...had turned even paler than she had been before.

"I thought my presence..." she began.

"Liar! You've defected to the Goblin King!"

"Never! You know how much I hate him!" she snarled, obviously meaning it. The Emperor's eyes narrowed.

"Prove it then. Spin me a crystal." He ordered. Tight-lipped and hesitant she held out her hand. It had a perfect little sphere in it. "Good. Now show me the location of the Champion of the Labyrinth." He ordered. Helena looked into the ball and an image formed. Caleb peered upwards into the crystal. He saw Sarah striding through the Labyrinth surrounded by a Goblin escort. Then the crystal clouded over again and a new image appeared.

It was a small figure wearing Goblin armour riding a boar. There was a Dwarf, some sort of mutant dog and three Nameless chasing him. Caleb squeaked but the Emperor didn't hear him. The creature was grinning.

"A second Champion. Excellent." Caleb squeaked in rage. Helena heard him this time and she must have realised who the Champion was.

"No!" The Emperor whirled around and grabbed her throat. "Don't hurt him he's just a child." She gasped. He squeezed harder and pushed her up against the stone wall.

"He is worthless human spawn. Just like you were when my father took a liking to you. My patience with your kind is over." He pulled her forwards and cracked her head against the stone wall. She slumped to the ground. Caleb froze not knowing what to do. The Emperor took a handful of powder out of his pouch and vanished into flames.

Caleb ran over to Helena. _Not dead, not dead_ he thought to himself. She wasn't moving. _Don't be dead_. He blamed himself. If not for him she never would have left her home or defied the Emperor. He sat in front of her face and squeaked. She gave no response.

Caleb sat worriedly smoothing down the fur on his face. He couldn't get to Jay like this! How was he ever going to be human again? He smoothed his fur down again and then realised what was ruffling it. Breath. From her nose. He scurried over her running around her head and squealing in her ear but she didn't move. He smelled blood and found the back of her elaborate beehive was wet with it. He sat and watched her for a long time unsure of what to do. Finally, not really thinking it would work, he tried one of Jay's favourite disgusting tricks. He perched himself on her shoulder, fought through the tangled hair, and stuck his tongue in her ear.

She flinched and mumbled something. He did it again and squeaked. Her eyes flew open and she swatted at him. She struck him with her hand and he fell to the ground again, but his mission had been accomplished. She slowly sat up and felt the back of her head, cursing when she saw blood staining her fingers. She looked around as though she didn't know where she was and then her eyes fell on Caleb. She gestured in his direction and he fell again. Hard. He swore and rubbed the throbbing hand he'd landed on. Hand. Not paw.

"You turned me..." Caleb said slowly regaining use of his speech. "into a mouse."

"You stuck your tongue in my ear. We're even." She said. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her voice sounded strained. Caleb sat behind her and examined her head. He put his arm around her and carefully stroked her hair in the direction he needed it to see better, just as he had done with Jay numerous times. The cut seemed to be healing fast. "Goblin magic." She explained. "Mages heal fast." She allowed her head to sink to his shoulder and shut her eyes again. There was silence for a while.

"How did you learn Goblin magic anyway?" Caleb had been wanting to ask that for a while. Helena took a long time to answer.

"The Nameless have the knowledge and the ability but it's considered unclean. I came to them as a human, unclean already, so they decided to teach me so I could be of some use to them."

"As a slave." Caleb finished. She didn't meet his eyes, and again took a long time to answer.

"I never felt like a slave or a captive until my father died. I know he loved me. But my brother...once he was the Emperor I had to wear the mask. I was to stay in my suite except for official functions when my magic was needed."

"How long ago was that?" Caleb asked.

"I was nine at the time." Caleb narrowed his eyes.

"So you've been there...about fifteen years?" he asked, half horrified and half curious.

"The other thing about Mages. We stop ageing when we choose to." Caleb blinked. So that was why Jareth looked so much younger than he did. She sighed and slowly got to her feet.

"How old are you?"he asked as he looked up at her from the ground. He wouldn't have thought she was any older than Sarah.

"How rude. You never ask a lady her age." Helena chided him absently. "We should head for Goblin City. That's where your Jay was in the crystal." She began to walk gingerly in what was probably as good a direction as any. Caleb got up and took her arm to steady her. She didn't push him away. He couldn't resist continuing ribbing her.

"Seriously. How old are you?"


	17. Chapter 17

Ahh the joys of having the Internet at home down for a week. And it will be down for another week! Wonderful!

Apologies for the delay etc. etc.

Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth. Well I do. I own the DVD. So *blows raspberry*

17

In the meantime...

Jay's feet were getting sore from all the walking but Goblin City was so close he didn't want to stop. He wondered if there was a prize or something at the end of it all. He could see something in the distance behind the city that looked like puffing steam from an engine like a gigantic space-version of Thomas the Tank Engine. Hoggle, Sir Didymus and the three masked creatures followed behind him.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" the creature in charge asked him.

"No." He answered truthfully and kept walking. "What's your name anyway?" he asked. "I'm Jareth. Dad calls me Jay."

"Another Jareth?" another creature asked. "Should we take this one to the Princess?"

"They're not interchangeable you idiot!" the other one snapped. "This is not the Goblin King!" They grumbled and argued amongst themselves. Jay continued on not really paying much attention to them. They weren't important. He only wanted to find Goblin City, find his Dad and have something to eat. He'd drunk out of a fountain (Hoggle had warned him not to drink from the pool, only the jets. Jay wondered why) but his stomach was starting to hurt and dinner had been a long time ago. He wondered why the grownups had sent him on this 'quest' without any warning or food. He felt a little bit like crying.

At long last the band of mismatched walkers reached the walls surrounding Goblin City. Jay stared up at the high walls and gave into a few sobs. There was no door or gate in sight. Just crumbly stone. He'd come all this way and now he had no way of getting in.

"There there Master Jay. We shall continue on our quest to the death..." Sir Didymus began. Jay sank down onto the ground with his back against the wall.

"I'm tired." He said to no one in particular as tears ran down his face. "I want Daddy." Hoggle put his arm around the boy's shoulders.

"It's okay." He said. "It's okay." He held Jay while he sobbed.

Jay cried for as long as he could, knowing that once he stopped he would have to get up and figure out what to do next. He was too tired for that. He needed lunch and a nap. Hoggle seemed to sense he was playing on it now in that annoying parent way of knowing.

"Come on Master Jareth. Yer know I like givin' up and goin' home as much as the next Dwarf does, but we can't go back now." Jay sniffed, wiped his nose on his sleeve, and nodded. He looked up at the city wall. It seemed to be calling him. Urging him on even.

He had come to a long, straight section of wall. There was the way he had come from, and a choice between left and right. The pathways looked the same to Jay.

"Which way should I go?" he asked all of the creatures present. The big goblin-like creatures he'd met in the Labyrinth shrugged. Didymus said "Left" at the same time as Hoggle said "Right". Jay looked up at the high walls again. He felt a tug as if he were being drawn like a magnet to the wall in front of him.

"No." He said. He walked straight into the stone wall.

Everyone else was surprised when a section of the wall seemed to just vanish. It had looked solid, but now there was an opening. Jay was not surprised at all. He was too young to have perceptions of what should and should not be real or possible. There just to the right, hidden by the outer wall, was a gate. There were two Goblins on guard there. They were asleep.

Jay tried to wake one.

"Sleeping. Wake me if intruders come." It growled sleepily. Jay shrugged and walked pas him.

Jay stepped through the doorway and instantly felt lighter as though his body were being refilled with energy. Like his batteries had just been changed. The word 'Champion' had whispered into his brain. He giggled and ran away, not paying much attention to the battle sounds ringing out.

"Come back here!" Hoggle shouted.

"Master Jareth!" Sir Didymus called. Jay ran around a corner and almost straight into a small band of Goblins who all pointed their weapons at him.

"Hi!" he said.

"Little human!" one exclaimed. It turned to another Goblin. "Can we's keep it?" It looked him up and down.

"Looks like King. Think he'd like it?"

"Yes! Keeps it! Here!" one of the goblins took its helmet off and plopped it onto Jay's head. "Battle coming. Get ready. If we not die we take you home." Hoggle and the other caught up by this time.

"Just what are you doing now? Get that thing off him!" he growled at the Goblins. "Okay." Jay said. "Can I have a sword?"

"No you can't!" Hoggle shouted. The Goblins cackled and decked him out in armour and weapons, and even plopped him on top of a spare boar.

"Shhh. Enemy coming." Another one hissed. Jay was silent. His head was buzzing a bit like it did back home right before he got into bad trouble at school. That was usually when he had the most fun.

"Charge!" shouted the biggest Goblin. Jay saw a group of creatures like the ones who had followed him. They were wearing armour and had weapons. He grinned and waved around his Goblin/Little Boy sized sword.

"Charge!" he yelled and thudded his heels into the sides of his boar.


	18. Chapter 18

18

Sarah and her Goblin escort moved quickly through the Labyrinth looking for Jay. Sarah's magic had returned and was now strangely amplified. The crystal must have done more than simply soak up some of her power while she was down there. She knew her way through the Labyrinth now as though there were fluoro yellow arrows pointing in the direction from one end to the other and which directions led to which exits. But she could feel nothing from Jay. But there was something in there. Something magical. She walked through the Labyrinth for about ten minutes before she came across it. She stopped, mouth hanging open.

"Caleb!" she exclaimed. He was walking beside a petite, dark-haired woman in flowing red silk and smudged eye makeup. She flung herself at him as he quickly dropped the woman's arm so she didn't get bowled over. "Caleb you're alive!"

"Very much so." He answered and hugged her back briefly. "I'd love to chat but we're looking for Jay. Have you seen him?"

"No. I'm looking for him now. He's run the Labyrinth."

"Yes I know. Now the Emperor is looking for him." Sarah swore, and glanced at the woman. This must be the Princess. She could feel the magic emanating from her. The Goblins behind her were milling around looking at her with some hostility.

"Sorry. I'm Sarah."

"You are not what I was expecting." The Princess said, looking her up and down. Sarah's sneakers and jeans were dusty and her hair was still a tangled mess from when she'd woken up this morning.

"Likewise." She replied. The Princess gave a nervous smile.

"So where does the Labyrinth come out?" Caleb asked.

"Goblin City." Sarah answered. Caleb frowned.

"So why are you looking here?" he asked. Sarah opened her mouth to answer, and then shut it without a sound. So that was why Jareth had given her that odd look as she'd run off. He'd let her come to keep her out of the way. Her brain was clearly still out of it. No wonder he'd insisted on her goblin escort.

"Never mind." she growled and turned back the way she'd come.

"Um, Sarah? Could you maybe have a word with the Goblins?" Caleb asked politely. She turned around and they were standing in front of him and the Princess glaring.

"No Nameless in Goblin City." One spat.

"She's human." Sarah snapped. The Goblin glared with as much defiance as he dared.

"She's Nameless Princess."

"Not anymore." She said tiredly. "I'm just Helena now." Sarah stared the little Goblin down.

"Good enough for you?" she asked. He shifted from foot to foot.

"Yes Queeney." He said with lowered eyes.

"Okay. Now let's go." She motioned them to follow. Caleb took the Princess...Helena's arm again and helped her walk. Sarah smiled slightly at the sight. Maybe Caleb had found a reason to visit more often.


	19. Chapter 19

Once again people, sorry for the delay. Believe me having no internet (3rd week now) is harder on me than it is on you!

Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth. I don't own a functioning cable connection either.

19

After Sarah had disappeared to search for Jay Jareth spun himself a crystal. One day his queen would learn to do things the easy way.

"Where is my nephew?" he asked the crystal. It clouded over and then cleared to show an image of a boy dressed in Goblin armour being lectured by a very cranky looking Hoggle. Jareth frowned. Didymus was there and three of the Nameless were standing around looking fairly useless. He recognised them as the ones who had come for him in the morning. It seemed like such a long time ago now.

He sighed, knowing she'd out she was on a wild goose chase eventually. He shifted to his owl form and took off over the city. The streets wound around in a small Labyrinth themselves. He checked alleyways and dead ends and finally found the unlikely band of creatures arguing near one of the city's hidden entrances. There was a small group of Nameless, a small group of Goblins, a sulky looking Jay and his minders standing there not knowing what to do. Jareth landed in front of them.

"Look an owl!" Jay said and pointed at him. Hoggle stepped back.

"Oh no..." he grumbled as Jareth shifted back to human. Jay gave a delighted grin.

"Uncle Jareth!" he exclaimed. As he jumped up there was a flash of flame and a puff of acrid smoke. It took Jareth by surprise. Jay squealed in panic.

The smoke cleared and there was the Emperor. Standing behind the boy with a curved dagger pressed to his throat. Everyone froze.

"Nobody move or I kill it." The Emperor said quietly. The Goblins, naturally, started growling and going for their weapons.

"Stop!" Jareth commanded. He looked up at the Emperor. "You can't possibly escape. You must realise that." The three Nameless looked uncomfortable.

"Um...Majesty? Do we really have to kill him?" it asked.

"Silence minion! We're not escaping. We're just going for a walk. Escort us." He commanded them. The Nameless stayed where they were. Jay glared.

"I'm not walking. I'm tired." He complained.

"Quiet human!" the Emperor snapped. "You three! Obey!"

"No! I'm not walking!" Jareth was startled by a movement behind him. Sarah, Caleb and a woman in red were behind him. Oh dear. The Princess. He did not need this right now. Caleb stepped forward slowly.

"Quiet Jay. It's going to be okay." He said. Jay didn't comply. He began to thrash around and scream. The Emperor had to move his knife away and grip him tighter around the throat with his other arm.

"Silence you feral animal!" he snarled. Jay screamed. And screamed. Jareth took a step back, startled by the magic he felt emanating from the boy. The scream grew louder and echoed around the stone walls of the buildings around them. Jareth barely maintained his composure, as did Sarah and the Princess, but the others were forced to cover their ears. The Emperor, with a mammoth effort, held onto the screaming child. He began to shake him. "Shut up!" Jareth saw him roar, but didn't hear it.

Huge lumps of stone began to fall from the buildings around them. Everyone dove for cover, except the Emperor who was struck by one. He was forced to let go of the boy as boulders fell around him. He held onto his arm, cursing.

The deafening scream (which continued long after Jay's mouth was shut) faded and the angry little boy faced the Emperor. Jareth got to his feet to whisk him away but stopped and watched.

Jay stood there, five years old with small fists clenched and stared down the Emperor. The creature stood and brought out the blade again with his good arm. Jay was unimpressed.

"I'm a Champion. You can't make me do anything!" he shouted. The Emperor growled and made as if to lunge at the child. Jay gave a small, feral grin. He held up a hand and pointed at the creature.

"To the Bog of Eternal Stench with you!" he shouted.

Nobody was more surprised than Jareth when the ground opened beneath the Emperor and he disappeared into it.

Everyone stared at the small boy, unable to believe what they had seen. The other humans were still on the ground. The Princess looked pale. The Nameless and Goblins looked confused. Jareth had to admit he was too. Where did Jay get that kind of power?

The others got to their feet. Caleb rushed over to Jay and folded him in a crushing hug.

"Dad. Dad. You're squashing me." Jay complained but Caleb didn't let him go. Sarah walked up to Jareth and put her arm around his waist.

"I think it's over." She said.

"Did you know he could do that?" Jareth asked. Sarah shrugged.

"He's a Champion of the Labyrinth now. Who knows what he can do?" Jareth shook his head. He was the King for crying out loud. Why was he the last person to know everything that went on around here? He extracted himself from Sarah and stood face to face with the Princess.

"Hello Princess. You're looking well." He lied. She was a mess. The glare she was giving him didn't help the look. Suddenly she stepped forward and aimed a stunning blow at his left cheek. He stumbled and cursed and his ear rang.

"Huh. Your brother was right. I do feel better now." She said, and turned her back on him to go to Caleb and Jay. Jareth looked to Sarah for sympathy. She stood there with one eyebrow raised.

"What?" he demanded.

"What did you do?" she asked with folded arms.

"Does it really matter? It was a long time ago." He growled. She gave him a cold stare and joined the others.

"I can't win." Jareth sighed. He turned to the Goblins who were snickering at him. They fell silent when he glared at them. At least someone took him seriously. "Come on then! Get to work! I want this city cleaned up _now_!"


	20. Chapter 20

20

The travel powder didn't work once it had gotten wet. The Emperor learned this the hard way as he trudged away from the bog in his sludge-soaked robes. He had no magic. He had no one to help him. The only way home he had was to walk, and it was a long walk. He scavenged food on the way, things that grew on thorny bushes or in the ground. When finally he returned to his home city it was in anarchy. He made his way to the palace and announced his homecoming to the courtiers and palace guards. There was murmuring and whispering and finally his Prime Minister approached him followed by servants burning incense. They stared one another down and finally the Prime Minister made the dreaded announcement.

"Unclean!"

The Emperor was banished, doomed to wander the wilderness for the rest of his days.


	21. Chapter 21

21

The Goblins made a half-hearted attempt at cleaning up the city before the festivities started. It mostly involved clearing away the dead bodies of the Nameless, although some were taken away by Goblins for purposes Sarah did not want to think about.

The Goblins took to the street with barrels of liquor, chickens, sausages and bonfires. Despite Jareth's best attempts to retrieve all explosives after the battle had been won there were loud bangs and collapsed buildings throughout the night.

Inside the castle celebrations were more subdued. After everyone had been bathed and bandaged (where needed) Goblins brought in a massive amount of food and wine. Most left for their own celebrations. Some chose to stay with their King and Queen (Mummy clung to Jareth for well over an hour sobbing 'My boy! My boy!") but most preferred the more exciting entertainment outside. Jareth strummed his guitar and sang.. Sarah and Jay mingled with Ludo, Ambrosius, Sir Didymus, Hoggle, his 'missus' and the dwarf children. The three Nameless who had followed Jay (now revealed to be named Gazza, Bazza and Bob) had defected happily and were out in the city partying with the Goblins. Caleb snatched at Jay every time he ran close enough to grab and hugged the small boy, much to Jay's displeasure. He was watching Helena closely. She had bathed and borrowed an outfit of Sarah's. Some sort of red frilly tank top, jeans and red flats. Caleb had to admit he was more than interested in her despite the goth-rocker makeup and wild hair. He wondered why Jareth had broken it off. They seemed like the perfect couple. Attractive, eccentric and completely self-absorbed. Helena seemed satisfied with the slap she had dealt Jareth (his left ear was still ringing), although it was fun watching him flinch and curse whenever she got too close and their eyes met.

"So why did you dump her?" Caleb asked his brother. Jareth continued playing guitar.

"She's really a man." Caleb choked.

"Seriously?"

"No." Caleb glared at Jareth, who had an evil smirk on his face. "All jokes aside there was only ever one Queen for me."

"A fifteen year old girl?" Caleb raised an eyebrow. "You know you could be put in jail back home for stalking on that level."

"Yes I do love the Underground." He was smiling in the direction of his wife who looked to be having a good gossip session with Helena. Jareth lost his smile. Who knew what those blasted women were nattering about. He did not need his wife and his ex-girlfriend doing the girl-talk thing. He set the guitar down to play by itself for a while and approached the women.

"May I have this dance?" he asked.

"Yes." Helena smirked and took his hand. He glared at Sarah who smiled sweetly at him. _I'm going to have words with you_, he mouthed in her direction. She blew him a kiss and walked over to Caleb. Jareth took Helena's hand.

"You look stunning tonight." He said.

"You're a troll." She replied.

"That's a bit harsh. I am far better looking than any troll I've ever met." He said. Helena rolled her eyes.

"I prefer your brother." She said. Jareth shrugged.

"Each to their own, there's no accounting for taste." They danced silently for a while. "What will you do now?" he asked. She shrugged.

"I don't know. I haven't thought that far ahead." Jareth saw her eyes resting on his brother and Jay.

"He leaves for Above tomorrow. You're welcome to stay here for as long as you want to but you may want to think of...alternate arrangements? He doesn't visit often." Her forehead creased.

"Above? It's been so long since I was there...has it changed much?"

"I find it barely recognisable. And you have four decades on me, so yes I would say so." He said.

"Five." She corrected him. Jareth shrugged. That sort of thing didn't matter in this place. "Does our magic work there?" she asked.

"Yes. Although it's best not to make a spectacle of oneself. They're a bit touchy about magic up there."

"I can imagine." Jareth looked over at Sarah and Caleb. He was flirting shamelessly with the Goblin Queen.

"Excuse me, I think I need to get my wife back now."

"Agreed." Jareth walked up behind Sarah, caught her up in his arms and spun her away to dance with him. Helena stood in front of Caleb and waited for an invitation. He felt intimidated by her expectant gaze.

"Um...dance?"

"Why thank you." He took her in his arms. "You know you're not very good." She commented.

"Will you just sh...be quiet?" he noticed Jay was watching him and giggling. She put her arms around his neck.

"I understand you have an empty house opposite you Above." She and Queen Sarah had been having a wonderful conversation.

"Um...yeah that." Caleb's stomach knotted. The thought of this woman living in the real world across the road from him was both appealing and terrifying at the same time.

"I might join you Above for a while then. You can show me around."

"Oh can I?" he said. Helena pulled him down to her level and kissed his lips. _Yes_, she decided there was potential here. She broke away and continued their dance as though nothing had happened. Caleb was a little dazed. "Alright. But I live in California, not Soho, so you might need to rethink the wardrobe." She shrugged. Clearly this man had no taste whatsoever.

Meanwhile Jareth was dancing with his wife very close and whispering the things he was planning on doing to her later on. Her face was bright red. Despite her fatigue it sounded like a lot of fun to her. She excused herself and went upstairs to wait for him. Finally Jareth looked to little Jay who was tiredly watching the grownups from the throne in the middle of the room. He slouched back looking as comfortable as Jareth had ever felt there.

"Make yourself at home Jay." He said.

"Thanks Uncle Jareth." Jareth made a mental note that five-year-olds don't get sarcasm. He followed the boy's gaze to Caleb and Helena.

"Your life is about to get more interesting I think." He said. Jay shrugged.

"I'm already Champion of the Labyrinth. I think I can handle a stepmom." He said. Jareth looked at the boy.

"You're an interesting boy. I'd like to make you an offer for later on."

"What sort of an offer? What's an offer?" he asked.

"How would you like to be the Goblin Prince?" Jay thought about it for a while. He almost looked like he was listetening to someone speak to him. Jareth looked around but couldn't see anyone.

"I'd like that, but that job is already taken. I'm just the Champion." He yawned. "And there's gonna be more of us. It'll be great. I have to go see the Crystal tomorrow before I leave." Jareth blinked. Now the kid was starting to creep him out. He glanced over at Caleb and Helena making out in the middle of the throne room.

"Go talk to Daddy. He'd love to talk to you right now." He said and left the room to follow his wife. He dismissed what Jay had said. He was an odd little boy.

Sarah got up early in the morning and dressed. Fortunately Jeeves had enough sense to realise the King and Queen were not interested in their schedule today and had left them alone. Sarah pulled on a singlet, leggings, an over-sized top and her favourite boots, fighting off a wave of dizziness as she did so. She supposed she had gone through a lot the day before but had expected to feel better by now. She would have like to get back into bed but the Crystal down below the castle had summoned her in her dreams and she had to go and wake Jay. Her gaze fell on Jareth before she left. She loved seeing him an absolute mess in her bed. His hair was everywhere and she eyed his lean body fast asleep on top of all the bedclothes. Last night had been as fun as she'd hoped.

She walked down the corridor to the guest bedroom. She didn't knock. The door sensed her presence and opened silently for her. She snuck into the suite and past the main bedroom, trying not to notice the trail of clothes leading from the beige living area into the beige bedroom. She gave up on having good manners and snuck a peek through the open door. They were under the sheets (thankfully. Sarah was nosey by nature but didn't want to see _that_ much of either of them), Caleb curled up around the former Princess. They looked happy, and for once were not currently arguing about anything. Sarah kept walking.

Jay, on the other hand, was sitting on his bed fully dressed and waiting for her. He already knew where they were going.

"The crystal wants to see me." He said.

"Yes. But first we need to get these shoes on the right feet." Sarah said, bending down and changing them over.

Hand in hand they walked down the stairs, crumbling no longer. There were much fewer death-defying jumps this time and the climb was much easier. The plaque above the door simply read 'Welcome – Jareth and Sarah.'

Sarah put her arm around his shoulders as they walked in. The chamber was brighter now, infused with Sarah's magic. The crystal looked warm and welcoming.

_Sarah. Jareth_. It greeted them.

"I prefer Jay." Jay said as if the talking, glowing crystal were nothing out of the ordinary.

_Jay. Crystal has a lot to teach Jay_. Four glowing points of light appeared on it. Jay went to it straight away and placed his hands on the smaller ones. Sarah placed her hands on the bigger ones and the strange sucking sensation began again. Jay giggled.

"It tickles." He said. Sarah sat with her eyes shut. The crystal wasn't saying anything to her, although she saw Jay nod every now and then and smile. Sarah watched the crystal globe, trying to get a better sense of the world she now lived in. She decided to go to the map room and do some research. Getting to know this place would keep her occupied for the time Jareth was busy with his endless crisis meetings.

She pulled her hands away from the crystal, feeling dizzy again. Her stomach wasn't feeling good either. She stared at Jay. He was gazing happily at the crystal giving it his magic and absorbing information in return, seeming none the worse for wear. She realised he must be much, much more powerful than she was. Sarah frowned as the crystal seemed to blur in patches. The magic was draining out of Jay's fingers and spreading across the globe. It almost looked like patches of cloud.

After what seemed like a long time the crystal released Jay.

_Thankyou Jay and Sarah. Help Crystal, help Underground_.

"You're welcome." Sarah said. Jay nodded. His eyes were a bit glassy and vacant. Sarah knew how he was feeling. "Come on, Squirt. Let's go find your Daddy."

Once in the chamber of stairs Jay smiled at her, still glassy-eyed but a little more with-it than he had been before. His hair was wild and as though it was full of electricity.

"See you at the top!" he said and shifted. She watched, open-mouthed, as he elongated, grew wings and shone with gold scales. _A dragon_? How had he managed that?

_He's young_, she realised, _and hasn't learned the difference between what is possible and what isn't_. _It's what makes him so powerful_. She watched him fly upwards. Part of her was awe-struck. Part of her was jealous. She had chosen the cat-form, and loved it, but was envious of Jay and Jareth's wings.

"Show off." She muttered and shifted. She made the long jump from the floor to the first staircase and began the long climb upwards.

The humans all met at just before thirteen o'clock in the afternoon. Jay had gone back to bed after his draining encounter with the crystal and Sarah had happily followed his example. But then something drew them all to leave their beds, dress and meet in the courtyard just inside the gates of Goblin City. There were hung-over and unconscious Goblins everywhere. Ludo stood watching over Sarah. Sir Didymus sat mounted on Ambrosius beside Jay. Hoggle had had enough of everybody and had gone home late last night.

It was time for Caleb and Jay to leave.

Sarah hugged the little boy, and then his father.

"Come back soon." She said, tearing up. Caleb frowned. She wasn't normally this emotional.

"We will. I promise." He said and kissed her cheek. Helena entered the room. She was wearing a (relatively) modern looking red dress with matching flats and her signature makeup and mad hair. She was carrying a bag. Caleb looked surprised.

"You've made up your mind then?" he asked. When he had asked her in the early hours of the morning whether she was coming with him or not she was still undecided.

"I woke up this morning and tripped over this bag of clothes waiting on my side of the bed. I guess Underground wants me to go." Sarah raised an eyebrow at Jareth. She knew very well who had left that bag there.

"What? He gets the girl, I get rid of her. Everybody wins." He said quietly. Sarah shook her head. Men!

Sarah gave Helena a brief hug and wished her good luck. Helena and Jareth shared a brief, clearly reluctant air-kiss above each cheek and then backed off as if the other had taken a bath in the Bog of Eternal Stench. Caleb offered Jareth his hand. Jareth ignored it and, for the first time, hugged his brother. It was a manly hug of course.

"You saved us all Caleb." Jareth said so only he could hear it. Caleb shut his eyes. This was the first time he had really hugged his brother since they were children. Jareth had been too young to really remember him, but Caleb had never forgotten, and had never lost that bond.

"Don't mention it." He said, and pulled away before it got awkward. Jareth may be his brother but he would never get used to that mad hair, or the makeup, or those damned tights. "We'll visit soon."

Jareth stood beside Sarah with his arm around her shoulders watching the three humans. Helena used her magic and, as an icy gust of wind and dark clouds blew in from the North, they disappeared with a clap of thunder.

Sarah stared at the spot they had stood in for a long time. They all had their own story to live now and she felt a little empty having three less people in her life. For a day they had felt like a real family. She could still feel Jay's presence all around her.

Jareth squeezed her shoulders.

"They'll be back soon." He said. She held her hand to her stomach, willing it to settle down. Jareth narrowed his eyes at her, remembering Jay's words from earlier.

"Yeah. I guess. Let's go inside. It's getting cold out here." As soon as the words left her mouth they looked at one another in shock, and then looked up.

Jay's power was all around them, and as Jareth and Sarah looked up the drops of rain started to fall Underground.

Thanks to everyone who has read!

This fanfic is approximately 26 000 words altogether. All the writers on this website ask for is for you to write between one and ten words in the reviews section of their story. If you got no enjoyment out of reading a story, fair enough and better luck with the next one. If you enjoyed what you read and got a few minutes (or more) worth of entertainment out of it, please review. You'll make an author's day

Extra big thanks to those who reviewed, especially my serial reviewer. You know who you are!


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